Peter Kennaugh looks set to miss this year’s Tour de France after abandoning the Critérium du Dauphiné on the penultimate stage last weekend.

The Manxman had been hoping to be included in BORA Hansgrohe’s team for the forthcoming Grand Tour, which starts in western France on July 7 and continues until the grand finale in Paris on July 29.

However, a lack of racing following a difficult start to life in the German team has ultimately curtailed his chances of heading to France .

Instead Kennaugh is already looking ahead to the Vuelta a Espana, the third of the Grand Tours which this year takes place between August 25 and September 16.

The Olympic gold medallist opted to move to BORA in the close season after eight years with British outfit Team Sky but, despite getting his campaign off to a decent start in the Santos Tour Down Under and the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race in Australia during January, his season has stuttered a bit.

His next professional race was the Tour de Romandie in April where he finished 87th overall prior to the Eschborn-Frankfurt which he did not complete.

Then came the Dauphiné - seen as the main precursor to the Tour de France - and, despite enjoying a good first half of the race, eventually Kennaugh’s lack of race practice caught up with him and he was forced to abandon on the penultimate stage.

The Manxman has since spoken to Cycling News and, in an in-depth interview, he admitted that it’s been a tough start to life at BORA:

’I came back from Australia and I just really struggled. I felt really low, training wasn’t going well, I felt terrible on the bike, and it just got to the point where each day in training it felt so bad that I just didn’t want to ride my bike.

’I don’t know what it was, I just needed time. I had about four to five weeks off in total then kind of turned it around and now I’m on the slow comeback trail.’

’I came into the [Dauphiné] race feeling really fit, training had gone really well, but it’s been such a hard race and I think it’s just the build-up of stages - I got to the point where I just wasn’t able to recover from day-to-day.

’On a training camp or at home, if you feel like this it’s so easy to back off and recover and get back into it the next day. But, especially in a race like this there’s just nowhere to hide.

’It’s a bit of a shame because I love the Dauphiné and it’s a race I’ve done well in in the past but in the end there was nothing I could do. I was totally empty.

’The first two sprint days were actually super hard and I suffered a bit on the second day, but then I was able to recover a bit in the team time trial, with it only being 40 minutes.

’Then, I was OK for the first mountain stage and I thought "Ah, this is good" but I just didn’t recover from that day. You see everyone else and they can do those efforts, recover, and do it again day after day. I just think I need the racing, basically. It’s not rocket science, I’m just missing the racing.

’I had a rough night’s sleep and even riding to sign on I felt like had no power in the legs. I just felt empty.

’As soon as it went slightly uphill, the pain in my legs was too much. I just had nothing, basically.’

When moving to BORA, Pete was hopeful of riding in Le Tour but knew he would have to work hard to earn his place in the team: ’It was a question mark before coming here, but I just needed to see how I was here.

’On the first mountain stage I thought that in another four weeks I could be in really good shape for the Tour, but with not being able to back it up and be consistent day after day, it’s kind of the last place you want to be if you’re not quite there yet.

’I think it will be the Vuelta. I will target that, and hopefully by then I should be in good shape.

’It is disappointing but there are a lot of other races I can get stuck into. I would have loved to have been there, but it is what it is, it’s sport, there’s nothing you can do.

’You just have to stay focused, keep motivated, and try and get something else out of the season.’

The Manxman has since travelled to an altitude training camp in the Sierra Nevada as he prepares for another assault on the British National Road Race Championships, which take place in Northumberland between June 28 and July 1.

Kennaugh will be hoping to continue his recent superb record at the nationals, having finished on each step of the podium on two occasions over the course of the last decade, winning it twice in 2014 and 2015.

Looking further ahead, Kennaugh is also hoping to tackle the Tour of Poland in early August ahead of the Vuelta a Espana.