"It was a shitty day": Netcompany INEOS teammates fight for Oscar Onley following the Brit's hard crash

The sixth stage of Tour of Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes was quite the rare experience with a 60-headed breakaway getting up the road on an introduction-day to the mountains. But that doesn't mean that the peloton had stopped - quite the contrary. A high pace maintained by Decathlon CMA CGM throughout the day contributed to big gaps among GC favourites, and Kevin Vauquelin was one of the victims, losing 1:32 to Isaac del Toro and Paul Seixas.

In every sense of the word, it was a terrible day for Netcompany INEOS. Starting early, their only representation in today's breakaway was a strong rider - but not a climber - Dorian Godon, who could not realistically hope to fight for stage victory.

But the real disaster struck on the short descent from penultimate climb Côte d'Héry-sur-Ugine, where team leader Oscar Onley crashed hard and is not expected to appear at the start of stage 7.

Thus, back-up leader Kévin Vauquelin quickly moved up the hierarchy with Carlos Rodríguez at hand. But the Frenchman did not find his pace on the last climb to Crest-Voland and lost a heap of time. Even his teammate Rodríguez finished 13 seconds ahead of the 25-year-old.

"I managed the penultimate climb well, but on the last climb I was completely exhausted," Vauquelin told DirectVelo. "I know I wasn't 100%, so I paid the price, but I tried to fight until the end. It was really tough. I thought I had better legs. I'm a little disappointed."

In addition to Vauquelin's difficulties, the British team also had to deal with the crashes of Joshua Tarling and Oscar Onley: "It was a shitty day," commented the Frenchman. "I don't know how Oscar is doing, he ended up over the guardrails. I fought with all my strength for them."

The 25-year-old is nevertheless looking ahead and hopes to recover in the final two stages: "I hope things go better this weekend. It's a preparatory race, you need days like this. The goal will be to give my all over the next two days."

The stages 7 and 8 will be a chance at redemption for many riders with yet another set of unrelenting parcours. Tomorrow, riders tackle Grand Colombier. The entire race will culminate with a short, but brutal stage on Sunday, featuring Col du Pré, Montée de Bisanne and Col de Aravis, before the race is decided on Plateau de Solaison.