"Sometimes it works, other times it doesn't" - Kevin Vauquelin's form raises another worry for INEOS' Tour de France

Kévin Vauquelin has not had a good Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, and that is another reason for concern at the Netcompany INEOS camp. The British team are seemingly going into the Tour without a set GC leader, but several potential ones. The recent French race exposed the less than perfect form from the former Arkéa rider.

"I battled with legs that weren't feeling great," Vauquelin said in words to DirectVelo. "It was a stepping stone in my training, I took it as such. It's always hard to understand; you train, sometimes it works, other times it doesn't. That's the beauty of sport."

Vauquelin began the race well, finishing in a small group ahead of the main GC bunch on stage 1, which put him in position to seek out the yellow jersey. At the team time trial, this was a real proposition. There, an emotional Vauquelin was angry with the decision to wait for Oscar Onley who had a mechanical. The team did not reach the stage win or the race lead.

After Onley crashed on stage 6, the GC then lied on Vauquelin's shoulders. But when time came for Vauquelin, seventh at last year's Tour, to step up - he cracked. The Frenchman descended from second to 15th in the overall classification that day; and the next day on the Grand Colombier he was 18th on the road. In the high mountains, Vauquelin was nowhere near contention for victories, nor the level he had at this time last year (where he finished on the podium of the Tour de Suisse.

In the final stage of the race, Vauquelin joined the breakaway, where he linked up with teammates Laurens de Plus and Carlos Rodríguez who shared a large part of the group's total work. On the final climb it was expected that Vauquelin would be the one to deliver, but he could not keep up with his two teammates.

"I wanted to show I was there, to fight as hard as I could and not just endure the race. I went for it, I gave it my all, I lost quite a bit. I prefer doing that to staying in the peloton," he argued. "I battled with myself. I can be happy with that. It was a tough race. Now, I just need to recover."

Hence, with Onley injured and Vauquelin out of form, the British team's two big signings are in question when it comes to aiming for the overall classification at the Grand Boucle. Over the coming weeks, more will be known regarding their ambitions.