A British return to the Tour de France podium? Oscar Onley takes on BORA duo of Lipowitz and Roglic into the Alps

Great Britain is the nation that has won the most Tour de France editions in the 2010's but this has not yet happened this decade - as Slovenia and Denmark have taken all editions, and will likely continue to do so in the near future. Geraint Thomas and Adam Yates have been in the podium for Wales and England respectively, and now Scotland may have it's own podium finisher in Oscar Onley.

It is a big request but thus far the Team Picnic PostNL has virtually broken every expectation to enter stage 17 of the Grand Boucle in fourth place. The 22-year old has not put a foot wrong in this race thus far in relation to his direct rivals, put on an impressive time-trial, and the high mountains have not taken him down either. He will likely enter the final two decisive days of the race with a 2:01-minute deficit over Florian Lipowitz, holder of the third position and white jersey - both Onley could reach if he overtakes the German.

Mont Ventoux posed one of the biggest challenges for the Scotsman but he was fifth out of the GC riders on the day. He was impressed by himself on the tough slopes of the climb:“This was good for my confidence, to hear that people are dropping back when you still feel good. When Vingegaard and Pogacar went, it became a battle with the BORA guys.”

But two-to-one, Lipowitz and Roglic outplayed Onley to gain around 30 seconds on the summit. “Well done to them, they played it smart and pushed me a bit too hard at the end. I'm mainly looking at those two, because Lipowitz is less than Vingegaard and Pogacar, but better than the rest. So Roglic doesn't necessarily have to help him and can focus on gaining time on me.”

Team DS Matt Winston continues to be impressed by his leader's performance and it's putting the Dutch team in a very unexpected position in this final week of the Tour - with plenty UCI points potentially also about to fall in the team's tally. “Oscar put in a strong performance on the Ventoux, and I think we can be proud of both his effort and the team’s work overall. We’re still in a good position in the GC, with plenty left to fight for in this final week.”