Winning the young riders classification and becoming the first French Tour de France podium finisher alongside Jean-Christophe Peraud (Ag2r La Mondiale) in seventeen years, Thibaut Pinot confirmed his reputation as a potential future grand tour winner. However, differently than most of the last Tour’s revelations, the FDJ leader look a short breather and enjoyed some time off the bike, hoping to bounce back at the star-studded Vuelta a Espana.

Like all other stars of the recently finished Tour de France, Pinot was expected to ride a series of criteriums organized by ASO, but eventually decided to maximally reduce a number of one-day events to enjoy short holidays at home.

After recuperating from a tough three-week effort, the 24-year old Frenchman decided to pick up a pace and lose some recently gained kilos by attending last three criteriums held this week, before he will line up at the Vuelta a Espana.

"It's started again, the aperitifs and barbecues are over," Pinot told L'Équipe. "The Vuelta and maybe the Worlds are on the horizon. I've got a few days to lose the two kilos I put on during my time off. The three criteriums this week should help me with that."

Pinot bounced back from a Tour disappointment and rode impressively in last year’s edition of the Spanish grand tour, but admitted that he wouldn’t contend the general classification in the already star studded Vuelta line-up this time around- enough to say that Chris Froome (Team Sky), Nairo Quintana, Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), Wilco Kelderman (Belkin), Rigoberto Uran (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), Christopher Horner (Lampre-Merida) or Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) will participate, opting to target stage victories instead.

Pinot was first expected to lead the FDJ at the Tour de l’Ain, but according to the Voix de l'Ain was replaced by Kenny Elissonde in the French team’s roster. In such circumstances, Vuelta a Espana would be the first official event for the 24-year old since his Tour campaign, with world championships held in Ponferrada being his another target for the latter part of 2014 season.