Thibaut Pinot likes the Tour de France course. With only one individual time trial (13.7 kilometers) and seven mountain stages, it suits a climber like the FDJ leader. Third behind Vincenzo Nibali and Jean-Christophe Péraud in 2014, he will sign "immediately" for a similar result. The Frenchman sees the greatest danger in the first 9 stages which he hopes to survive unscathed.

Thibaut Pinot agrees that the course for the 2015 Tour de France is ideal for a rider like him.

"It's a hilly route, without a real time trial, less than 15km," he told L'Equipe at the Palais des Congrès in Paris. About his third place, he is optimistic. "To do as well as last year would be great. I would immediately sign for it. If I reach the level I had at this year's Tour de France, I know I'm capable of something similar. I hope that will be the case next year as well," he adds.

However, he warns against the first part of the race, with the Mur de Huy, the cobbles and the wind. 

"The first week is very intense: every day you have to be careful not to lose time. The day with the cobbles is the first key stage. With the wind, there will be several dangerous and treacherous days. If you emerge unscathed after the team time trial, you can achieve a good result in Paris," he points out.

He doesn't fear the team time trial over 28 kilometers Plumelec. 

"This is a discipline in which we have tried to improve at FDJ. We will continue this work. It is not too long, a little more than 25km. However, it comes pretty late which makes it hard to handle. If there are many crashes on the cobbles and in the wind, you could end up with 2-3 injured rides," he tells the French sports daily.

As for Giro-Tour double, prefers to study it with his FDJ team. 

"I do not know yet. I have to talk with the coaches and sports directors to decide whether I will focus on the Tour or the Tour and another grand tour," he said. Regarding the triple grand tour challenge proposed by Oleg Tinkov, he says that it is "impossible with the current schedule. You need at least two months between two grand tours to be competitive and it will require you to sacrifice races like Paris-Nice and the classics."