Being up against two riders that were either past or current national time trial champions, Thibaut Pinot was the rider most likely to miss out on a podium spot in the penultimate stage of the Tour de France. Due to the lack of expectations, he felt no pressure and did a great performance to finish 12th and will now end the race in third overall.

All year Thibaut Pinot had confirmed his great TT progress but despite top 10 results in three WorldTour time trials in 2014, he was still tipped to end in fourth after the penultimate stage of the Tour de France. However, Pinot again defied expectations, finishing the stage in 12th to only slip to third in the overall standings.

Pinot carried the expectations of the entire home nation on his shoulders but he claims not to have been too overwhelmed by the pressure, saying that it was Jean-Christophe Peraud's and Alejandro Valverde's race to lose.

“I'm very happy with my time trial," he said. "I knew I could do it. I've done decent time trials all year and I was feeling great those past few days so I wasn't worried. I was under pressure but it was a positive pressure.

"The crowd was great. I was in a fight against Valverde. I'm only 24 year old, he's older than me. After three weeks of hard racing, it might be an advantage to be young.

"As for Jean-Christophe Péraud, I knew he was a serious opponent. I can be satisfied because I'm not that far down on him. I'm happy that we're two Frenchmen on the podium.

"To say the truth, I find it hard to realize that I'm on the final podium of the Tour de France. Winning the Tour de France will be another story. Nibali is eight minutes ahead of me, it's enormous! It's still a long way to go...

"I knew nothing about the time dfferences. Yvon [Madiot, sports director] kept telling me that Valverde was 15 seconds behind me. Then there was so much noise I could not hear the differences. It pissed me off. But such incentives have only given me extra motivation.

"I have not realized I'm third in the Tour, it's amazing. In the end, I gave everything and I could not go any faster. The last five kilometres were terrible. I keow I coukd do a good time trial, I've done soall season. 

"I must say that this morning I felt like it was the stage where I had the least amount of pressure. I could only create a surprise. If someone had told me this three weeks ago, I would never have believed it. Now I will enjoy it, go on vacation, rest and prepare for the Tour of Spain."

"I always dreamed about this," FDJ manager Marc Madiot said. "But such a result seemed inaccessible. Two days after the finish at Hautacam, I told Thierry Bricaud, "You know, we are 2md before the Tour time trial. A few years ago, we had packed up the bus and cars after the time trial even before the TV had started its live coverage. 

"It is a reward for FDJ who have been here for 18 years and have given us time to work with young people, without making any demands other than asking us to be serious. This podium is for them."