After his diastrous start, Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) suddenly found his legs in stage 12 where he finished with the favourites at the top of the Plateau de Beille.

" I am very happy with this day," he said. "Now I understand why it didn't work. It was the heat that made me suffer, I had the confirmation as I found lthe egs when it started to rain. Now I look forward to the Alps and ask for rain. This day did me good because since the beginning of the Tour, I have never been able to exploit my potential. For the morale this is good."

" It was very mixed weather," manager Marc Madiot said. "We went from 35 to 15 degrees with rain so it was a difficult stage. Despite this, Thibaut was with the best. This is encouraging for the next few days.  He started to recover his physical potential. It gives him morale. Now we will take each day as it comes. We will take the stages one after the other."