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.
Worries for Onley
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.
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.”
Hope to finish the race on a high
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.”
Kevin Vauquelin in old INEOS Grenadiers jersey earlier in 2026
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.