Vincenzo Nibali wasn't the only one who benefited from the opened up rivalry after both Alberto Contador and Christopher Froome had fallen out of contention in last year's Tour de France. The situation allowed Thibaut Pinot to finish his home Grand Tour on a podium, but the FDJ rider admits that repeating that result would be incredibly complicated.

Pinot is aware that with all four biggest favourites Contador, Froome, Quintana and Nibali fit and ready to battle each other in this year's edition of the Tour repeating a podium result would be a tough ask. Not to mention a possibility of winning his home Grand Tour, even if a mountain-heavy route should be quite to his liking.

“It’s too soon. There are a lot of results to pick up before the summer,” Pinot told Ouest France, according to Cyclingnews. “And repeating a podium finish at the Tour is already a complicated thing, so talking about victory would be premature. We’ll take stock at the end of this season and we’ll see after that.

“In any case, we’re not talking about the Tour right now. We’ll start to get into it with the first reconnaissance rides, starting in May.”

The 24-year old Frenchman has already kicked-off the 2015 season with appearances in two home races Grand Prix la Marseillaise and Étoile de Bessèges. The first important test in the mountains will arrive this week at Tour of Oman, but he will have to wait until the next month to test himself against all Tour de France favourites.

“It’s one of the big races before the Tour, that’s true,” he said. “All the favourites will be there and. So it’s of course important to be up there. It will be a good moment to gauge where I’m at.”