Geraint Thomas has addressed the tensions in the Netcompany-Ineos camp after the team time trial at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, insisting the "bigger picture" is a positive one and suggesting the disappointment can "bring the guys together".
Netcompany-Ineos finished second in Tuesday's stage 3 TTT and were left with a sense of what might have been, had one of the team's leaders Oscar Onley not dropped his chain 9km from the finish.
The decision was made to wait for him, which may well have cost the team the stage win and also co-leader Kévin Vauquelin the yellow jersey, which he missed out on by 12 seconds.
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Vauquelin did not hide his frustration, saying "I don't think that would have been my strategy".
Geraint Thomas, Netcompany-Ineos' Director of Racing, addressed the issue after the stage.
"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," he said.
"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."
Leadership questions
Netcompany-Ineos are indeed in a strong position overall, with Vauquelin and Onley – who both gained time in a late move on the opening day – the virtual GC leaders ahead of yellow jersey Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost), who is expected to fall away in the mountains.
The pair have three seconds in hand over Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike), 35 seconds on Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek), 48 seconds on Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA GCM), and 1:04 on Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).
The incident has raised question marks over team leadership, though. Had they not waited, Vauquelin could have been in yellow with an even bigger margin over those key rivals, but then Onley would also be have found himself much further back and likely behind most of those rivals.
"We have two GC cards now and still all to play for," Thomas insisted.
"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."
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