Il Lombardia, the last monument of the 2023 season, will also be the last race in the career of fan favorite Thibaut Pinot, as on Saturday the Frenchman will bid farewell to the sport and Groupama-FDJ after spending 14 years with the French team.

Pino bid Adieu to his loyal supporters at the 2023 Tour de France and made his last solo attack on the Home Road of Vosges in Stage 20. The emotional high point of his move came to Petit Baron Climb's "Virage[curve] Pinot," where his former teammates and hundreds of Collectif Ultras Pinot (his supporters' club) were camping out to see their eternally relevant heroes.

Pinot's long-term team boss, Marc Madiot, spoke emotionally in a video published by the team where he saw communication between riders and fans and described that magical day on the tour where he "lived an unreal day." Madiot also mentioned how Il Lombardia would be a different affair, but said it was still very important to attend the last moments of Pino's career.

"There are other emotions in Lombardy, but it's different," said the apparently suffocating Madio. "I don't think I really want to know what it will be like. I just want to be there, that's all. I want to be there for the "last bib" because I know what it means.

"To all who had the pleasure of following Thibault throughout his career, himself that we had the pleasure of experiencing great and beautiful emotions

From the victory that Pino conquered Alpes Duess and Tourmalet on the stage of the Tour de France, to the joy that plagued later careers. It embodied the highs and lows of professional cycling, from the injuries that drove him out of consecutive tours to the monumental victory at Lombardy itself in 2018.

This will be the last dance for the French in the fallen leaves race, booking a career that many have followed very closely.

"To be in Lombardy is to end a beautiful image. We are here to celebrate, we are here together. It must continue to be a good and beautiful moment, we must live it this way," Madiot insisted.

"We can think: It was not always easy. But we lived it.

The same fans who lined up the Petit Baron arranged to meet again on the route from Como to Bergamo in Saturday's race to retire Pinot.

"We have had this plan in mind since Thibault's retirement was announced," said Humbert, one of L'Equipe's Collectif Ultras Pinot (CUP) founders, 1. "So, it's an idea ahead of the tour.He explained that their first idea was to have a farewell celebration during the tour and leave it, but things went well, so they now have a second farewell at Il Lombardia

Humbert said that "hundreds" of people will arrive at Il Lombardia just 10km below the finish in Bergamo. We expect to line up in the section of Colle Aperto, the last climb of the year. Pino may or may not be leading the race at that point, but his fans probably won't mind too much, their hero presence is definitely enough to drum up the most vibrant racing atmosphere of the day.