Thibaut Pinot heartbreakingly lost all his dreams of Tour de France success when his fear for high speeds saw him drop off the pace on the descent from the Port de Pailheres. To get rid of his problems, he was invited to take part in a driving session on the Magny-Cours F1 circuit and on Friday the Frenchman completed the session with great success.

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 Port 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 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.

Having received an invitation from former rally driver Max Mamers, Madiot decided to send his star rider to a driving session on the Magny-Cours F1 circuit where he would be facing the task of driving a car at a speed of 190 km/h. On Friday Pinot faced his big challenge in the company of former F1 driver Franck Lagorce. "I told him only to brake when I told him to," Lagorce told L'Equipe at the end of the session.

Pinot completed the exercise and was pleased with the outcome.

"There was a stretch of 700 meters where the car was going at 190km/h," he told the newspaper. "He did not say anything and just told me to brake 50 meters from the curve. I'm delighted, I've been like a child. It is a good exercise to rid of my problem."

"It's a matter of trust," he added. "You recognize that you are going fast and you just want to go faster. The television camera follows you and you see millions of people. It's a very big pressure."

Pinot already showed great improvement in the Vuelta a Espana where he even tackled some wet descent from the front and managed to finish 7th overall without losing any time on the downhill section.

He will continue his exercises on December 20 and 21 when he will participate in the car race Le Circuit d'Alpe d'Huez del Trophée Andros alongside Mamers.