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It will no doubt take some days yet for the magnitude of what Oscar Onley has achieved at the Tour de France to sink in.
The Scottish rider has been the breakout star of this year’s race. Onley took to the start line fresh from a strong showing at the Tour de Suisse — yet few could have predicted the dizzying heights he would scale.
We’re not just talking about his blistering ascents of Mont Ventoux and the Col de la Loze. Onley, 22, has been up there rubbing shoulders with the best in the world, a Who’s Who of cycling including contemporary greats Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard.
The man from Kelso has announced his arrival on the global stage, finishing an incredible fourth in the general classification (GC) standings.
It’s a colossal accomplishment, equalling the previous highest overall finish by a Scot, Philippa York (who competed as Robert Millar) in 1984.
Could Onley have imagined being in this position three weeks ago? Possibly not. He came into the Tour with the sole goal of chasing stage wins, supported by his Picnic PostNL team.
Oscar Onley equalled the highest-ever finish by a Scottish cyclist at the Tour de France
Onley has arrived on the global stage thanks to hard graft, sacrifice and a formidable mindset
Tadej Pogacar passes the Arc de Triomphe on his way to another Tour de France title
He has fought tooth and nail across every inch of tarmac and lofty mountain pass. Nor did it take long to make his mark. Onley finished sixth in Boulogne- sur-Mer on stage two as the seeds of a bold dream took root. After that, the top 10 finishes came thick and fast.
Onley took third on stage seven from Saint-Malo to Mur-de-Bretagne, crossing the line hot on the heels of Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) who — with a raft of Grand Tour wins and titles between them — were first and second respectively.
He finished fourth in Rouen, fifth on the Hautacam, sixth from Pau to Luchon-Superbagneres and fourth up the Col de la Loze, the queen stage of this year’s Tour.
The tenacity and talent it takes to produce these Herculean efforts day after day should not be underestimated. Onley, who cut his teeth pedalling around the roads of the Scottish Borders, is the cycling equivalent of Clark Kent becoming Superman.
Although a coveted stage win eluded him, ‘the Kelso Comet’ found himself steadily climbing the GC rankings.
While the anticipated showdown between Pogacar and Vingegaard has had fans gripped, the fierce battle between Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe) and Onley for the third step on the podium also captivated millions.
The weight of expectation on Onley’s shoulders must have felt immense, but he continued to strive with every sinew. On Thursday evening, just 22 seconds stood between third-placed Lipowitz and Onley in fourth.
Friday’s summit finish on La Plagne was a tough day at the office, with Onley fading in the last kilometres. He claimed fifth, his eighth top 10 finish of the Tour. Sadly, though, the time gap between the pair had widened to over a minute, an insurmountable chasm as the race reached its final stages.
Throughout his storming performances, Onley has retained the air of a young man still pinching himself in disbelief. ‘It’s not really sunk in yet,’ he said after his world-class ride on stage four.
As he warmed down outside the team bus, Onley reportedly pulled out his phone to double-check the result online. It read: Tadej Pogacar, Mathieu van der Poel, Jonas Vingegaard, Oscar Onley. A star was born.
On paper, Onley is the archetypal overnight success. Some commentators have referred to him as the ‘surprise sensation’ of the Tour.
However, the hard graft and sacrifice that have brought him to the upper echelons of the sport should not be downplayed.
Having started out as a promising cross-country runner, he joined the Kelso Wheelers Cycling Club aged 10, keen to emulate the riders he saw whizzing around the local time trial route past his house.
Watching the Tour de France on TV as a youngster also lit a fire, with Onley citing vivid memories of the epic clash between Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck on the Col du Tourmalet in 2010.
He would have been seven at the time. Fast forward 15 years and he is duelling with cycling adversaries in the Pyrenees, inspiring a new generation of riders into the bargain.
While he raced at youth level, it wasn’t until joining the junior and under-23 ranks that he began to take his cycling more seriously.
A strong time-trialist and climber on the road, his lack of suitability as a track rider — due to his self- confessed ‘tiny’ frame — meant he didn’t follow the traditional pathway through the British Cycling programme, instead exploring the development team racing scene in Europe.
In 2019, after competing in France with Scottish Cycling, he signed with Van Rysel-AG2R La Mondiale and had a promising stint with the feeder squad. Only 16, he began honing his French in preparation.
Onley joined Development Team DSM in 2021, where his endeavours included a memorable tussle with two-time Tour de France winner Vingegaard at the 2022 CRO Race. Onley stepped up to WorldTour level with Team dsm-firmenich (now Picnic–PostNL) in 2023.
He made his Grand Tour debut at the Vuelta a Espana that same year, playing a key role in the team time trial victory on the opening stage. He crashed out on stage two, suffering a broken collarbone and withdrawing.
Onley returned to sparkling form at the 2024 Santos Tour Down Under. At Willunga Hill on stage five, he took his first individual World Tour win.
Yet Onley’s story quickly racked up more twists and turns than a hairpin-bend climb.
Barely a week after his maiden professional victory, he fractured his collarbone again while competing at the 2024 Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race.
Then came a third collarbone break at the 2024 Amstel Gold Race — making it a trio of injuries within eight months.
Onley soon showed his mettle as the comeback kid. The formidable mindset which has served him well this year came to the fore.
While Onley later acknowledged that being sidelined for the third time in less than a year was ‘pretty tough’, he used his recuperation to take a step back and regroup, mentally and physically.
Rather than wallow, Onley ‘switched off from cycling’, buying Lego to keep his ‘mind busy’ and avoid doomscrolling on his phone.
It reaped dividends. After returning at the 2024 Tour de Suisse, he was named in his team’s roster for that year’s Tour de France.
Speaking to Mail Sport ahead of his Tour debut last July, Onley described it as ‘a childhood dream’.
He finished a credible 39th in the GC standings, with a fifth place on stage 17. Not even Onley could have imagined, though, the riveting head-to-head he would find himself in a year later, catapulting him from future star to podium contender.
Over the past 12 months, he has taken second overall at the 2024 Tour of Britain and won the best young rider classification — as well as being the highest-placed British rider — at the 2024 Road World Championships in Zurich.
This year has seen Onley garner a series of top 10 GC finishes, including third at last month’s Tour de Suisse. Which brings us back to the here and now.
There will be much to unpack from his phenomenal Tour de France, and it’s important to remember he is still only halfway through a five-year development plan drafted by Picnic PostNL.
What has unfolded on the roads of France is merely the beginning. Surely the next stop is superstardom.
