“As long as the legs are there...”: INEOS fully confident Oscar Onley can defend white jersey in Vuelta time trial

The 2026 Vuelta a Espana faces one of its most important days this Thursday with the time trial between Puerto de Santa Maria and Jerez de la Frontera. The riders will have to complete 32 kilometres on a course particularly suited to the specialists, although the high temperatures will once again be one of the factors teams will have to keep firmly in mind. For Netcompany INEOS, one of the main objectives will be for Oscar Onley to defend the best young rider’s white jersey against Jakob Omrzel.

Adrian Lopez, head of performance at Netcompany INEOS, spoke exclusively to CyclingUpToDate before the start to analyse the key factors on a day when the weather conditions could play an important role. Although the heat has eased somewhat compared with previous days, temperatures will remain high for much of the course.

One of the uncertainties before the start concerned the wind. Although the initial forecasts pointed towards a relatively calm day in that respect, there was already some movement beginning to be felt around the start area.

For Lopez, however, the fact that the main general classification riders will compete within similar time windows means the conditions should be broadly comparable between them. “Well, I think in the end all the GC guys are going to start within the same period of time, so it can have an overall effect in terms of the final result, in terms of winning the race or not, but for the GC riders I think it will be an equal battle and they’ll have very similar conditions, so it shouldn’t affect the final GC result,” explained the Netcompany INEOS performance chief.

The team’s attention will be focused particularly on Onley, who starts the time trial with the objective of preserving a young rider classification in which Jakob Omrzel is one of his main rivals.

The temperatures at this Vuelta a Espana have forced teams to take extra precautions. After several days with readings close to 40 degrees, a time trial raced in temperatures below that mark represents something of an improvement, although it does not remove the issue entirely.

“Obviously, after having been in 42 degrees, today when we even drop below 30 you can already feel the difference in temperature, and the adaptation the guys have is much greater now across all the cyclists,” Lopez said.

The Netcompany INEOS head of performance explained that the heat still has a direct impact on performance, meaning the work begins before the rider even gets on the bike. “But clearly, an increase in body temperature lowers performance, and even though we aren’t in extreme temperatures, we’re still working on it,” he added.

The team therefore uses different methods to lower body temperature before the effort. These include pre-loading with slush drinks, as well as using cooling vests during the warm-up and large industrial fans. “We do a pre-load with slushies, frozen slushies, then during the warm-up we try to use the cooling vest and also fans. We have some industrial fans, and then the usual ice that we use as well,” Lopez explained.

Once the race begins, the strategy will be different. Despite the heat, Netcompany INEOS do not plan to use anything special during the 32 kilometres, because any measure that could compromise the aerodynamics of the bike or the rider could ultimately prove counterproductive.

“We won’t use anything special during the race because the aerodynamic gains are really important and we don’t want to lose that advantage. It’s a moderately long time trial, but not excessively long,” Lopez said.

The preparation will therefore focus on reaching the start with body temperature as controlled as possible, before making maximum use of the aerodynamic set-up during the effort.

From a sporting perspective, the big question for Netcompany INEOS will be how far Oscar Onley can go in a discipline that, on paper, favours more specialised riders. The Briton will have to defend the white jersey against Jakob Omrzel, one of the young riders who has stood out most at this Vuelta a Espana.

Lopez believes the characteristics of both riders could allow Onley to defend himself well despite the nature of the stage. “Well, I think he can do well. In the end Oscar is a climber-type rider, just like Jakob, but I think he can defend himself pretty well against riders with those kinds of characteristics,” he explained.

The team are aware, however, that there will be significant differences depending on the rival. Against Primoz Roglic, one of the strongest time trial specialists among the GC contenders, the priority will be to minimise losses. “We know that, very probably, against a rider like Roglic, the normal thing is that we’ll have to limit our losses to him,” Lopez acknowledged.

The situation changes when it comes to some of the other general classification contenders. In that group, the Netcompany INEOS performance chief expects a much closer battle. “But with other riders like Enric Mas, Felix Gall, Jakob, Richard Carapaz, I think we’ll be there in a close battle, let’s say,” he added.

The time trial will not be the end of the Vuelta. After the 32 kilometres between Puerto de Santa Maria and Jerez de la Frontera, there will still be two mountain stages remaining, leaving the door open for significant moves over the weekend.

For that reason, even if Onley loses some ground in the time trial, Netcompany INEOS are not ruling out going on the offensive during the Andalusian stages. “Always, as long as the legs are there, we’ll try to put the race in our favour,” Lopez concluded.

The result of the time trial will determine how much of an advantage Oscar Onley retains over Jakob Omrzel, but the British team are clear that the fight for the white jersey will not necessarily end in Jerez. If the legs respond, Granada will be the next opportunity to try to change the direction of the classification.