FDJ rider Yoann Offredo certainly could be considered as just another example of many French shooting stars of road cycling, always falling into the same scheme: showing great potential and promising results at the very beginning of the career, but fading away just as quickly before coming of age and living up to any of the great expectations.

Considered as a young, courageous, intelligent and developing in the right direction after a very promising start in the FDJ outfit, highlighted by finishing 3rd at the GP Ouest France-Plouay, 5th at Tour the Wallonnie, 4th at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad or 7th at Milan-San Remo among few other significant results mostly achieved in 2010 and 2011 season, it seemed that Offredo had what it takes to mix things up in the coming seasons.

However, 27-year old Frenchman was handed a ban after missing an off-race doping control three times, what forced him to put his highly promising career in professional cycling on hold.

"This season I want to be in line with 2011 , continuing my progression. Last season I had to reconsider my goals, to let everything fall into right places again. But 2014 will be different, it's a reunion," Offredo explains in an interview for VéloChrono.

Offredo was handed a punishment after the Tour of Qatar 2012. When his one year ban came to an end he was allowed to race again and he returned to the competition, still as the FDJ rider, in the Qatari deserts in 2013. Now he finally feels ready to replicate his form from 2011 season and the Tour of Qatar once again is expected to leave an important mark on, inaugurating his long climb to reach peak disposition.

"Over last year I've improved so much. I have improved my aerobic maximum power by over 10% : in fact this is what boosts my morale, means I'll reach my 2011 level and even surpass it," says 27-year old Frenchman

Even though Offredo was coming of age as a professional cyclist in the FDJ outfit and was meant to become one of their leaders, many things have changed over past two years in the French team, as their manager Marc Madiot was expressing his disappointment with a lack of a proper preparation and tactical approach to major races.

Now the objectives are clear, expectations high and competition within a team is bigger than ever with a bunch of French rising stars of both climbing and sprinting on board, but Offredo seems to remain unfazed by the new curcumstances.

"The situation is different from 2011, of course, but having a strong team for the cobbled classics may not be a problem. Now we have the trick of sprint with Arnaud Demare . And we also have Ladagnous who took my place during my punishment [ 5th last year in the Tour of Flanders ]. But Mathieu and I are very different, he is kind of gambler when it comes to the finale, I love to attack, I would say I'm a romantic rider. I love it when behind victory there is a story, I am not into big sprints. We can develop entirely different scenarios, " Offredo explained.

The French rider suffered a fall yesterday in the Tour of Qatar and finished with the left scapula badly bruised, although x-rays ruled out any fracture which allows Offredo to continue racing in Qatari deserts.