Groupama-FDJ's Thibaut Pinot will begin winter training again in November, having recovered physically, if not yet fully mentally, from the thigh injury that forced him to abandon this year's Tour de France despite a potential win.

In a wide-ranging interview with French sports newspaper L'Equipe on Monday, ahead of the 2020 Tour de France route being announced in Paris on Tuesday, Pinot said that after that incident, it became difficult to even look at road bikes and instead trained on mountain bikes He said that after the incident, he found it difficult to even look at road bikes and preferred to train on a mountain bike instead.

Pinot was in fifth place overall, 1:50 behind then race leader and compatriot Julien Alaphilippe (Detunink-Quickstep), but only 20 seconds behind eventual race winner Egan Bernal (Team Ineos).

Pinot's tears were televised around the world after he was forced to retire on the same stage, but now recovered, Pinot is trying to dispel the bad memories of what could have been as he heads into 2020.

Pino announced in early September that he would not race again in 2019 and was unable to defend his title last weekend at Il Lombardia. He told L'Equipe that he has been running in recent weeks but is essentially resting until early November, when he begins winter training for next season.

"I didn't ride my bike for three weeks after the Tour, but then I did a month and a half of mountain bike training.

"I preferred mountain biking because I didn't want to see a road bike every morning. Pinot added, "I was a little bit mad at myself. I blamed myself for the injury because it was my body that let me down [at the Tour]."

As for the cause of his thigh injury, Pinot admitted that neither he nor his doctors knew.

"It's still a bit of a mystery to me. 'I wanted to know what caused it, but I still don't know. The doctor told me that it was the same kind of injury that happens to soccer players during a game.

Mystery aside, Pinot said the hardest thing to overcome was the mental aspect of being eliminated from the Tour when he was the first Frenchman to win the Tour since 1985 winner Bernard Inaud.

"It was really difficult mentally because I had put all my energy into the Tour since winning Il Lombardia in 2018. So when all of a sudden everything came crashing down, it was very difficult to accept that."

"We went into the last three days in the mountains, which I had been waiting for for a long time. I knew the Tour would be decided there," Pinot said.

He told L'Equipe that he was not surprised by his level of racing this year, but was eager to return to the race to see if he could replicate the form that won him stage 14 of the Tour Murray Pass.

"Whatever happens, happens," he said. It's not like somebody died or anything. I just keep doing what I can."