On the eve of the most important time trial of his life, Romain Bardet was involved in the big crash in the finale of stage 19 of the Tour de France. Luckily, he escaped the incident without any major injuries and now vows to give it his all in an attempt to keep Tejay van Garderen at bay in the time trial.

Taken in the crash three kilometres from the finish line in Bergerac, Romain Bardet escaped mostly unhurt and vows to fight in Saturday's time trial to retain his 5th place overall.

"I'm OK. A few bruises, nothing bad," he said. "It was pretty nervous in the finale. In a turn, riders slid and achieved a nice little strike. We managed to get back on the bike. Luckily, it happened in the last three kilometres so it didn't ruin the work done by the team around Jean-Christophe and me today.

"It was very nervous today with a bit of wind, rain and the last chance for a lot of riders to show themselves in this Tour de France. It was stressful again today.

"We're going to check it (the time-trial)  with Jean-Christophe tonight. Of course I believe in my chances. I'm very motivated. I'm going to do it as fast as I can and we'll draw conclusions tomorrow evening. The main thing will be to have given it my all once the line crossed in Perigueux."