Confident Oscar Onley "can compete for results in bigger races" but "still missing that big result"

Promising, 21-year-old, Team DSM talent, Oscar Onley has continued his impressive progression in 2023. Although he still waits for his first World Tour win, the Brit has had a number of impressive performances.

“I didn’t come into the season with too many expectations, it was more about getting a feeling for WorldTour races and seeing how it would go,” Onley told Cycling News from the Tour of Guangxi. “As this season has gone on, I’ve seen I can compete for results in bigger races. So maybe my expectations have got a little bit higher. I’m not disappointed, but I’m still missing that big result this year. So hopefully, this week, I can do something.”

Read also

PREVIEW | Tour of Guangxi 2023 stage 4 - Queen stage to decide overall classification

Undoubtedly one of the negatives of the season though was Onley's Grand Tour debut at the Vuelta a Espana. What should have been a season-defining time, the Team DSM-Firmenich rider couldn't even make it through two stages before being forced to abandon.

“To be honest, it was probably harder mentally than physically. To crash out of a Grand Tour, especially your first one, is mentally quite difficult, particularly after all the work I’d put in over the summer. I’d focused on this a lot of the year, so it was quite hard,” Onley laments, admitting his struggles. “I know it’s easy to say now that I could have done something, but I was quite confident that I could do something across the three weeks. I knew from my numbers that I was going well. I was going there for stage opportunities, and it turned out that there were a lot of chances with all the breakaways.”

Read also

2024 Giro d'Italia presentation: Over 60km of time-trials, a mini Milano-Sanremo plus monster climbs of the Stelvio and Brocon