Pinot didn't finish the Tour in 2016 and 2017 and was unable to compete in the 2018 race due to illness.
CNN  — 

French cyclist Thibaut Pinot, who had hopes of winning the Tour de France, pulled out of the race in tears with a leg injury on Friday.

The FDJ rider’s Tour, which concludes on Sunday in Paris, came to an end an hour into stage 19 in the Alps.

France's Thibaut Pinot, in his team car, reacts after quitting the Tour de France.

The 29-year-old Pinot was in fifth place at the start of Friday’s stage, just under two minutes behind Julian Alaphilippe, who had started the day in the yellow jersey.

Pinot called for medical help – strapping for his left thigh – but then gradually drifted away from the peloton before stopping.

France's Thibaut Pinot was in fifth place before the start of Friday's stage.

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Bernard Hinault was the last Frenchman to win the Tour de France in 1985.

Pinot didn’t finish the Tour in 2016 and 2017 and was unable to compete in the 2018 race due to illness.

Later on Friday Stage 19 was called off because of adverse weather conditions. The race was stopped near the end of the stage with less than 18 miles to go.

Race organizers said rider times would be taken at the Col de l’Iseran. That put Egan Bernal in yellow.