Considered as a French future Grand Tour contender, Thibaut Pinot was unable to live up to such expectations last season, being unable to replicate his stellar form from his debut at the Tour the France in 2012. Nevertheless, the racing schedule of 23-year old FDJ rider was finally announced today, and apart from some little changes, it is very similar to the one he followed last year.

Seemingly Pinot together with his French team came to the conclusion, that previous racing program wasn’t responsible for his failure at his home Grand Tour race, and thus there is no reason to apply any significant changes.

23-year old FDJ rider is fairly regarded as a highly skilled and versatile contender, capable of achieving remarkable results in stage races – including the Grand Tour on his home ground, but his well recognized fear of descending at a high speed – connected with a serious crash Pinot had as a junior, rather discourages to pick the Frenchman among clear favorites due to his unpredictability.

It became a serious issue during the 100th edition of La Grande Boucle, when Pinot struggled to stay with the rest of the peloton in the opening mountain stages in the Pyrenees, losing over 20 minutes to the leader at the end of the stage to Begneres-de-Bigorre and seriously questioning his desire to stay in the race.

Even though Pinot bounced back strongly at the extremely mountainous edition of the Vuelta a Espana, eventually it couldn’t completely erase the sense of disappointment, brought up from his Tour the France participation.

Now Pinot, having undergone some specialized training targeted to overpower his fear of descending, aims to ride the Tour-Vuelta double once again, this time hoping for a better result in his home Grand Tour race.

Apart from a planned participation in Tour of Oman, FDJ rider will race exclusively in Europe as a build up to his 2014 main targets, which obviously are tour the France and Vuelta a Espana.

Thibaut Pinot racing schedule for 2014 is as follows  : GP Marseillaise, Tour of Oman, Sud Ardeche, Drome Classic, Volta a Catalunya, Vuelta al Pais Vasco, Tour de Romandie , Bayern Rundfhart, Tour de Swiss, French National Championships, Tour de France, Tour l ' Ain, Vuelta a Espana and Il Lombardia.