Netcompany-Ineos haven't had the start to the Tour de France they perhaps envisaged. The first blow came when Oscar Onley, fourth place last year and hoping to go one better this lap around, flew over a guardrail on a descent at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. A dislocated shoulder, multiple wounds, and a potential Tour podium out the window. The second: Kévin Vauquelin's rear tyre.
It's unbearably hot in the team bus park in Parc del Fòrum, and teams take shade under marquees as they plan their recon of the team time trial route through the streets of Barcelona. Ineos sports director Geraint Thomas stands directly in the sun, but seems cool enough. With a stacked TTT roster including former world champion Filippo Ganna and Brit Josh Tarling ready to sling their GC hopeful Vauquelin up the rankings, stage one is their calling.
"Today's obviously going to be big, and yeah, we do have a good lineup," he says. The team are due to have a meeting in a few minutes' time, but he doesn't seem in a hurry or stressed. "It wasn't based purely on this, and we're trying to be competitive across all terrain. Obviously the GC will still be in the back of our minds, but I think we want to try to make things happen and take an opportunity rather than just sit back and let things happen to us."
But as the team – expectedly – ripped through the city, four seconds up on Alpecin-Premier Tech at the second time check with eight riders together, it wasn't their opposition who foiled their plans, but an unforgiving section of the Barcelona tarmac. Vauquelin is Ineos's next-in-line to Onley for the general classification, but waved his teammates to carry on as he dealt with his rotten luck just five kilometres from the finish. It's not the first time a TTT has challenged his patience: last month, he harrumphed as Onley fiddled with a dropped chain during the stage three time-trial at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, causing a 15 second loss in the final stretch. Prior to that misfortune they had posted the fastest time at the first and second intermediate checkpoints, and had even extended their lead over leaders Visma-Lease a Bike.
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For Vauquelin, and for Ineos, it's another instance of the odds being against them. He had to skip the French Championships after catching a virus during Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, where he slumped to 15th. Tarling also crashed out of the same race, breaking his collarbone – an injury he was able to overcome in time for the Grand Départ.
Mechanicals suck at the best of times, but on an opening stage of the Tour de France so crucial in the ignition of GC standings, it's got to sting. Thomas remained composed at the finish line, but was clearly disappointed.
"It was a tough one, really, with Kévin puncturing." he says. "He was our guy to finish it off. He was the one that was gonna save the legs while he was sitting on and sort of finish that last effort. But the way the boys responded to that, and adapted to the plan, was really good to see."
Indeed they did. If there's anyone who can carry a team to time-trial success in the face of adversity, it's former ITT world champion Filippo Ganna. The Italian powerhouse flew over the line atop Montjuic in characteristic fashion, setting a time that only Visma would eventually beat. Ganna's second place with a man-down squad is a testament to his TT craft, but also another painful taste for Ineos of what could have been. Vauquelin crossed the line 1:06 behind him.
"We wanted [Vauquelin] to empty the tank by the top of the first climb, and he had to finish it off, you know. But I said earlier today, you have your plan, but it'll never go to plan. It's how you adapt to it. Everyone stepped up and did their bit. It's just a shame to lose Kévin with that puncture, because I feel for him. He hasn't had much luck this year, but it's the way it is. That's how it goes," Thomas shrugs – calm, but a little deflated.
