Thibaut Pinot made up for a disappointing Tour de France when he finished 7th in the Vuelta a Espana and the result gave him a great confidence boost ahead of the 2014 season. He is even more encouraged by the high level at the Spanish grand tour as he thinks that the best four riders in the race were stronger than the best 3 riders in the 2012 Tour de France.

In 2012, the Frenchmen started dreaming that they finally had a potential Tour de France winner in their ranks when 22-year-old Thibaut Pinot finished 10th in his maiden participation in the world's biggest bike race and even won a memorable stage to Porrentruy. The pressure was building for next year when the young FDJ.fr rider carried the weight of an entire nation on his shoulders.

The load became too much for the Frenchman on the first mountain stage to Ax-3-Domaines. After having got safely through the feared and crash-marred first week, he lost contact with the favourites on the descent from the Port de Pailheres and lost all hopes for a high overall result. With months of preparation having been destroyed by just a moment of inattention, Pinot left the race in depressed mood one week later, using a sore throat as explanation.

However, Pinot showed character when he bounced back from the failure at the Vuelta a Espana. In his first participation in the Spanish grand tour, the Frenchman mixed it up with the likes of Chris Horner, Vincenzo Nibali, Alejandro Valverde and Joaquim Rodriguez and found himself in 7th when the race came to a conclusion in Madrid.

The result provided him with plenty of confidence ahead of the coming season where he may find himself with less pressure on his shoulders. With stunning stage wins by young Frenchmen like Warren Barguil, Kenny Elissonde, and Alexandre Geniez and with Pierre Rolland still being a rider for the future, France has not had so many young talented climbers for years.

"The important thing is that my team knows what I did," he told Velochrono in a lengthy interview. "I wanted to find my level and become happy again. After the Tour, I worked a lot in the mountains and most of all, I was happy that the efforts paid off."

Many people have suggested that Pinot would only ride the Vuelta to chase stage wins but the Frenchman had bigger plans. He wanted to show that he could finish high on GC.

"At first, I wanted to see what happened in first mountainous weekend," he said. "And it happened naturally. To chase stages from escapes? That is a lottery.

"I demand a lot from myself," he added. "I did not want to do all this training to participate in a lottery. And when I can fight against the best..."

Horner was stronger than Froome

What really encouraged Pinot was that the best riders at the Vuelta were at a very high level. Having finished in the top 10 in both the 2013 Vuelta and the 2012 Tour, Pinot had the chance to compare Chris Horner's winning ride in Spain with Bradley Wiggins' triumph 12 months earlier. And the Frenchman is convinced that the Spanish race had the best riders.

"In terms of watts, I was better in the Vuelta than I was in the Tour," he said. "My results probably come from a more uniform level of the best riders. I also think that Chris Horner was stronger in the 2013 Vuelta than Chris Froome was in the 2012 Tour.

"I managed to follow Horner once, on the day when Warren Barguil won his second stage. In 2012, I beat Froome in La Toussuire and was not far from him in Peyragudes. I really think that the top 4 of the 2013 Vuelta was stronger than the top 3 in the 2012 Tour."

In fact, he is convinced that Froome is certainly not unbeatable. In this year's Tour de Romandie, he almost managed to match the seemingly invincible Brit on the queen stage.

"I have never had any doubts about Froome," he said. "Last year I followed him at the Tour. This year, I missed hundred metres to follow in the Tour de Romandie. He has two legs. I should have raced better. I made mistakes that day. No, Froome is not superhuman."

Another Tour-Vuelta double

This year Pinot did the Tour-Vuelta double but earlier this year, he played with the idea of doing the Giro d'Italia in 2014. As one of the biggest French hopes, it is, however, almost unimaginable for him to miss his home race and so he again plans to ride the final two grand tours of the year.

"We talked about it when the course for the Tour de France was unveiled a little more than a month ago and that [the Tour-Vuelta double, ed.] was what we planned," he said. "We have not discussed it since but we plan to do so at the training camp in Pen Bron which takes place in just a few days. There is a chance that I will do the Tour and the Vuelta, yes.

"I do not believe the Giro-Tour is possible," he added. "If I do the Giro one day, I will not do the Tour afterwards."

If Pinot does both grand tours, he will do so with a focus on the GC. In fact, he finds it hard to line up at a stage race without having both eyes on the overall standings.

"I don't go to look at the landscape, that is not my temperament," he said. "I have always been riding for the GC. I find it hard to say "no GC". For me, it would be like wasting my time."

Pinot admits that it is very stressful to stay focussed for 21 stages in a row. With experience, he has, however, learnt to deal with the pressure.

"It is a pleasure when you reach your goal," he said. "In the Vuelta, I found the third week very mentally challenging. On the eve of the Angliru... I don't think I have ever put so much pressure on myself. If I had cracked, I would have lost five minutes and my season would have been terrible."

No focus on the classics

Pinot has mostly been riding stage races but at the end of the season, he gave Il Lombardia a shot. He was one of the main actors on the final Villa Vergano climb but doesn't plan to focus more on one-day races in the future, not even the Ardennes classics.

"The unknown was the distance of almost 250km," he said. "I wanted a top 10 and I made a mistake in the sprint but I could have been there. I attacked on the last climb because I knew that it would be unexpected as the ascent was more suited to punchier riders.

"It [the Ardennes classics] is a difficult path," he added. "Even in the youth ranks, I have not done those races. And I really like the Tour de Romandie so I don't necessarily want to do them."

However, he promises himself to one-day give the most difficult one-day races a shot.

"Yes, one day I will try," he said. "Primarily because I don't want to have the same programme every year. In 2014, I will do the Tour of Oman instead of riding in France in February. I'm not going to the Tour Mediteraneen every year, not just because of the weather. You must try something else."

FDJ.fr to win big WorldTour races?

In 2013, FDJ.fr stepped up its game significantly. While Pinot, Geniez and Elissonde shone in the mountains, Nacer Bouhanni and Arnaud Demare cemented their positions as some of the best sprinters in the world.

With such a bunch of talents on the roster, Pinot is convinced that the team can battle for wins in big WorldTour races in the near future.

"We could very well win Milan-Sanremo," he said. "Who knows if Arnaud Demare has not won the Tour of Flanders in three or four years. We can win the Gent-Wevelgem, Arnaud Demare and Nacer Bouhanni can both do weel there. We can finish on the podium or even win in weeklong stage races. When I won in Porrentruy last year, nobody expected it. With Kenny Elissonde on the Angliru it was the same. Sometimes things happen faster than expected."

In 2013 Pinot failed to contribute to the 33 FDJ wins. In 2014 he plans to break the drought and finally live up to the great expectations that were placed on his shoulders in 2012.