Jean-Christophe Peraud goes into the most important time trial of his life as he is the big favourite to move into second in tomorrow's penultimate stage of the Tour de France. Having crashed out of the race in the final TT 12 months ago, he hopes to avoid a similar scenario this time around.

Held up by the collective pile-up which took place three kilometres from the finish line, Jean-Christophe Peraud escaped unhurt and started gearing up for Saturday's 54-km time trial.

"I was caught in the crash, I tried to avoid it but I couldn't. Romain crashed in front of me. Obviously the rain did not help, especially in a finale with a lot of turns and nervous sprint in the end. We crashed, it's classic," he said.

Last year Peraud crashed in the final time trial between Embrun and Chorges but he vowed to be luckier this time.    

"We're going to check it in a car to know what to expect. And then rest. It won't be like last year. As I'm going to check it in a car, if I crash it'll be in the race."