"It's never plain sailing, is it?" - Geraint Thomas addresses INEOS tensions after team time trial incident

Kevin Vauquelin cut a frustrated figure at the end of Tuesday's team time trial at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes after an Oscar Onley mechanical saw the team ease off their effort to ensure both leaders stayed together during the race against the clock.

On course for a stage win heading into the final kilometers, Onley dropped his chain forcing the momentary slow-down, leading to the victory just slipping from their grasp as it became clear that the call came to wait for Onley while he resolved the issue.

After the stage fellow leader Vauquelin couldn't hide his frustration at the call, with the move potentially stopping him from taking the yellow jersey, although he still sits right at the forefront in second on the general classification standings. After the stage, he declared: "I don't think that would have been my strategy".

However, Director of Racing Geraint Thomas has emerged as the voice of reason among the tensions with their dual leaders, insisting that race incidents happen and it's better in the stage race than at the Tour de France - where Vauquelin and Onley are expected to spearhead their GC ambitions.

"It's good these things go wrong now and you’ve got to be able to put things right quickly and react well together, think about these things and have confidence in each other and be honest with each other," Thomas said afterwards.

While admitting that it's difficult to manage an ambitious group of riders heading to the Tour de France, Thomas insisted that the focus is very much on the 'bigger picture' - a viewpoint difficult to see in the heat of battle.

Thomas continued: "This group is a new group together which is going on this journey to try and win the Tour de France eventually and get the best performance they can. It's never plain sailing, is it? There’s always ups and downs and that brings the guys together as well. I'm happy as the boys were strong today.

"The call the DSs made on the road was to wait for Oscar, luckily he got his chain on pretty quickly but it means the stage win and the leader’s jersey for Kévin went. If you look bigger picture, we're second and third on GC and this race is going to be won in the mountains by more than a couple of seconds, but it's tough as everyone wants to win."

Thomas, however, is happy with their preparations and results so far in the WorldTour stage race. Vauquelin and Onley sit in second and third respectively and just twelve seconds adrift of leader Alex Baudin.

With some tough mountains to come, and top contenders like Paul Seixas and Isaac Del Toro looming behind, Thomas predicts both of his leaders have plenty more to show - even if that may have to wait until July in France.

Thomas added: "We have two GC cards now and still all to play for. Kevin is still on the way up and I don’t think he’s in top shape yet, so we expect him to make a step after this race.

"Oscar has had really good training blocks but in the races he’s had one thing or another to deal with like illness or crash and he’s not really got to show that."