"I may have panicked a bit" - Yellow jersey Vauquelin on the attack at Tour de Suisse but almost pulls off brave move

With one day left to go to the end of the Tour de Suisse, Arkéa - B&B Hotels are on the brink of turning around a very difficult season. Kévin Vauquelin has both pulled off seven days of flawless racing physically and tactically, and tomorrow he may be able to win a World Tour race for the French team.

After the tactical breakaway on stage 1 that has earned him time on what are now his main rivals in the overall classification, the Frenchman has always seemed to be ahead of the competition and be able to race conservatively regardless of the circumstances. He once again rode the wheels today, with a lot of success.

Today on stage 7 he was tested once again, this time with the yellow jersey on his shoulders, but passed it with flying colours. On the penultimate climb, the longest of the day, the accelerations of Felix Gall and João Almeida were not enough to drop him and on the final climb the same could be said.

Vauquelin launched an early sprint and attempted to surprise the competition. He was close, losing his legs in the final meters but having a meaningful gap that allowed him to dream of the stage win and even growing his gap. "Really disappointed, we did a perfect performance, we handled the last two climbs well".

"I may have panicked a bit," he explained. Nevertheless Vauquelin was third on the day, not losing time on the road and maintaining some buffer over João Almeida (33 seconds) which may prove valuable this Sunday.

However it will be a brutal effort and the Frenchman is aware of the very big challenge that lies ahead. "Tomorrow? Anything goes, it's going to be a battle against myself. I'm planning on feeling unwell at the finish."