Thibaut Pinot goes into the final time trial of the Tour de France with a tiny lead over Jean-Christophe Peraud and Alejandro Valverde who on paper are better time triallists. Having made great strides in the discipline, however, the young Frenchman is confident that he will be able to hold off his rivals.

Thibaut Pinot may not be known as a time trial specialist but he made lots of progress in the discipline. He finished in the top 10 in TTs in the Tour de Romandie, Tour de Suisse and the Criterium du Dauphiné and those performances make him confident that he can hold onto his podium place in tomorrow's penultimate stage of the Tour de France.

Today he got safely through a dangerous stage with good legs and this provides him with even more optimism for tomorrow.

"It was a tough day," he said. "There was a lot of rain and I tried not to use too much energy ahead of the time trial which is the most important stage of the Tour de France. I'll have to be strong to stay on the podium. Today, the legs were good and I hope they will be again on Saturday.

"I'll give the best of myself, and if I do not stay on the podium, I cannot be disappointed."

"I can look back at the time trials in the Tour de Romandie and Tour de Suisse which favored specialists but  every time I finished in the top 10. Tomorrow it is different. It is long and it comes at the end of a three-week Tour.

"I don't want to listen to my sore legs. I'm ready for this 1:15 effort but I am confident. I'm calm but I know I can end up finishing fourth in the Tour. However, I am not stressed, the worst is behind me. Tomorrow nobody can hide, the strongest will come to the fore.

"It's been a complicated day, very tense because of the rain. I had to remain well positioned to avoid crashing. At the end, it crashes right next to me.

"I like time trialing so I'll give it all, hoping that I won't have a bad day. Am I tired? Out of 10, I must be at 12. But I don't have to be scared. The two riders who will be on the podium with Nibali will be the strongest. I'll drive the course in a car to be in my best form at the end of the day."