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I think Pinot’s descending is far better than you think. He had one, high publicity, off day but has managed to finish GTs in the top ten since.
I don’t think the French team is riven with cliques in the way that, say, the Italian team used to be, and they can ride as a cohesive unit. Alaphilippe is by far their best chance of a medal, so going all in for him would seem to be their best option. That said, using Bardet or Pinot to cover breaks in the second half of the race would make sense as then they can let other teams lead the chase.
andyp-
He does appear generally improved since 2013, but his descending is a weakness that he has admitted himself that he's worked on, with Innsbruck having at least 9 fast paced descents, he's not going to be the most help downhill.
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It's nowhere near as bad as Kirby makes out, but if Valverde, Nibali, Roglic, and Alaphillipe are with him descending the final 2 climbs for example, with all of them going balls to the wall to win their first WC, he's getting dropped.
Biggest omission from a team is Michael Matthews, was ready to go all in to help his mate and occasional training partner Richie Porte, but left out. In an interview with cyclingnews he said he hoped it was because of his ability on the longer climbs and not a misconception he doesn't work for his team
Acliff
noBlakes
I wouldn't expect Pinot to be much help in the descending, and Bardet needs a big win this year, so not sure he would be the most helpful.
Pierre Latour would have been good for their team, but he's probably still going to be out with broken vertebrae...