Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) lost all hopes of a high overall placing in the Tour de France when he lost contact with the group of favourites on the descent of the Col de Pailheres. To get rid of his fear of high speeds, he will now race a F1 car on the Magny-Cours - at 190km/h.

Thibaut Pinot was climbing excellently near the front of the group of favourites when Sky blow the peloton to pieces on the first serious climb of this year's Tour de France, the Cote de Pailheres. Having prepared his second Tour meticulously, the Frenchman seemed to be in a perfect position to improve on his impressive 10th place in his race debut one year earlier.

Moments later, it all came to nothing when Peter Kennaugh led the peloton down the descent in pursuit of Nairo Quintana (Movistar). Due to fear of high speeds, the Frenchman lost contact with the favourites and never recovered from the incident. On that day he lost 6 minutes to stage winner Chris Froome (Sky) and was left depressed, all his ambitions having been crushed in a matter of seconds. He ended up abandoning the race one week later, citing a sore throat.

His team manager Marc Madiot had decided to use unconventional means to help Pinot get rid of his fear. It originates from a crash he suffered when he was 12 years old. On that occasion, he hit his head an broke both arms and since then he has feared the highest speeds.

 "The descent of the Col de Pailhères is not technical, so the problem is speed," team manager Marc Madiot told L'Equipe.

Madiot has now joined forces with former French racing driver who will have Pinot onboard his racing car on the Magny-Cours motor circuit in October. The hope is that the 190km/h speeds will be enough for Pinot to solve his problems.

"I have known this guy since he won the mountains jerset in the Paris- Corrèze as a twenty-year old," Mamers told L'Equipe. "I organized the race with Laurent Fignon. When I saw his problems on the descent, I thought I could do something for him so I sent an SMS to Marc Madiot ."

The session will take place in October when Pinot has completed his last race, Il Lombardia. He is currently riding the Vuelta where he is 29th overall and showed strength by climbing the 30% Mirador del Ezaro climb with a broken derailleur, having only one gear available.