Being no fan of the fight for position, Thibaut Pinot was a likely victim of today's Tour de France on the cobbles but the climber did surprisingly well to finish with the likes of Alejandro Valverde and Tejay van Garderen. The FDJ leader was very relieved and is happy now to have the most dangerous stages behind him.

Thibaut Pinot has often lost time due to poor positioning as he is definitely not a fan of the rubbing that goes along with securing a good spot in the front end of the peloton. Hence, he went into today's stage of the Tour de France with big fears.

However, Pinot did surprisingly well and managed to finish the stage in the Valverde group, losing just 2.28 to Lars Boom. The result was a big relief for the French climber.

"In the 10 km before the pavés, it was really hard but I always had Arthur Vichot, Matthieu Ladagnous and William Bonnet at my side," he said. "Once I hit the pavés, I relaxed a bit, I was calm.  I knew Nibali was ahead but with Contador and Valverde in my group, I was not worried because I knew their teammates would chase. 

"I am satisfied with my stage. I love cyclocross and mountain biking, I do it a lot in the winter, and I am not bad. I am a little surprised. I have survived England and now the pavés. I think I've done the hardest part although there are still still two sprint stages and anything can happen, wind, crashes... I'm happy."

"We're all relieved and this step is very important for Thibaut, for his confidence, for his morale," sports director Yvon Madior said. "Once again, the team did a very good job. We have handled two challenges: England and the pavés. It is fine if we can reach the Vosges with Thibaut in a good position. We prepared the stage, we were present alongside all the pavés, notably with Martial Gayant and Franck Pineau. And the quipment was very good."

His teammate Arnaud Demare crashed and finished in the gruppetto. At one point, his team was very worried.

"After his crash, Arnaud was completely confused, he no longer knew where he was. He was riding at 20 km / hour and I can say that I was very worried. He has power, regained consciousness and was able to catch Grupetto. More fear than harm ..."