After winning a stage and finishing in the top 10 in his first Tour de France in 2012, Thibaut Pinot entered the 2014 edition of La Grande Boucle with lots on expectations from the home public on his shoulders. Things unraveled for the young Frenchman who now wants to have a free role in the 2014 race before going back with GC ambitions in 2015.

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.

While the Vuelta result proved that he can contend for the overall in a three-week race, Pinot does not intend to go back to the Tour in 2014, just to find himself with the same kind of pressure on his shoulders. Instead, he wants to again enjoy the experience of riding on home soil and so will have a different focus in the biggest race of the year.

Instead, he will try to reach his GC objectives in the Vuelta where the pressure and the stress is less and the course more suited to the talented climber.

"[I want to go for] the GC in the Vuelta and be a free electron in the Tour de France," he told Le Dauphiné. "I want to have fun before returning with other ambitions in 2015."

In an earlier interview, Pinot had claimed that he found it difficult to start a stage race without having a focus on the GC. Apparently, he has now realized that to again find the joy of riding the Tour, he needs to enter the race with a different approach.

Car racing

While most of his colleagues have been busy preparing the new season on their bikes, Pinot has had a different kind of build-up this year. Acknowledging that his descending skills can have disastrous consequences, Pinot and FDJ manager Marc Madiot have tried to solve the problems.

Pinot's fear stems from a crash he had as a junior, and with Madiot he has teamed up with car driver Max Mamers. Earlier this year, Pinot drove on the F1 circuit Magny-Cours in an attempt to get rid of his fear for high speed and this week he has been driving a racing car in the snow of Alpe d'Huez.

"The goal is to solve my problems on the descents," he said. "I am really happy to do it."

"Of course, the result in 2012 created a lot of expectations," he added. "In the last Tour I had a lot of pressure on me. I know that I am tense on the bike, that is my weak point. Auto racing helps me because I need to believe in myself. I have to be relaxed.

"I just want to descend well and no longer have to fear the top of each climb. The car allows me to improve."

In the Vuelta a Espana, Pinot already showed signs of significant improvements on the descent. 2014 will tell whether the car sessions have made him even stronger in his feared discipline.