"Hunt for stages" - Despite Tour de Suisse podium, Oscar Onley maintains Tour de France plans intact
CyclingMonday, 23 June 2025 at 12:45
Oscar Onley has been having a formidable 2025 season, highlighted now by his podium at the Tour de Suisse. After the final mountain time-trial, the Briton has talked about his effort and his thoughts ahead of the Tour de France where he confirms that he will be going to be chasing stage wins.
“I think I did quite big numbers so I’ve got to be happy. I tried to split it into two parts. The first was to where the intermediate was, and it was really about trying to hold back in that first part," Onley said in words to CyclingPro.net following his effort. "Then the second part would suit me quite well normally with the steep sections so I just tried to do what I could".
Onley was fourth at the Tour Down Under earlier this year, 5th at the UAE Tour and 9th at Itzulia Basque Country. This June, he took a step up with his first stage win of the year, putting in a brilliant performance to match and then outsprint João Almeida in the steep finish to Santa Maria in Calanca. The 22-year old finished the final effort against the clock in third place and finished in the same position, overtaking Julian Alaphilippe in the overall classification.
“It’s been a really good week for me, a step up compared to my results in the past and also my own performances. I stepped up physically and I’m happy with it," he assures. The team will be depending on him as the main card to chase a victory at the Tour de France now, where he - despite his obvious abilities - will not be trying to go for the overall classification.
“The plan should still be to try to hunt for stages. I think that’s a good first step to learning the Tour, and I’ve still got plenty of time to try for GC in the future. Probably, I’ll start trying GC in the other Grand Tours first, because the Tour is another level up.”
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- yeah, nonsense at all. Jorgenson left his captain alone in the middle of the fight, trying to win the stage. Bad.
maria2024202425-07-2025 - Jonas’s salary doesn’t seem out of line. If Pogi isn’t at a race Jonas typically winsmobk25-07-2025
- Pogi is insanely dominant for sure. But the part about Jonas’s career being over is nonsense. Jonas’s career will go as long as he wants to race. There is still plenty of demand for the second best GT rider in the world.mobk25-07-2025
- why did Jonas not try with Jorgensen at the valley after taking so much risk to bomb to the bottom? What is the point of waiting for his team after all that? and Matteo running away alone.. they look like strategising on the fly, they were better off stopping at one of the chapels to pray they win the yellow than actually trying to come up with a strategy.foothead25-07-2025
- The big difference: Jonas had 2 days NO, Tadej 0 days NO 1- Stage 5, flat time trial (Jonas lost 1' 05") 2-Stage 12, climbing Hautacam (Jonas lost 2' 10") total lost: 3' 15" In addition, Tadej won 48" in bonus. 2 bad days in the Tour de France, by a super champion like Jonas means that something was very wrong in the preparation. Maybe they denaturalized Jonas improving his "sprinter" skills... Visma has a lot to think about.maria2024202425-07-2025
- Victor - you are so far off base with your comments it's ridiculous! Why should Tadeg have to attack anymore? He doesn't ! He's playing the long game of taking yellow to Paris and not just trying to win every fricking stage!frieders325-07-2025
- Visma is riding in hope that they can remix their 2022 tactics and bait Pogacar into beating himself... But the good thing about Pogacar losing the way he did is that he learned his limits and is both stronger and smarter... Vingegaard's career becomes more interesting. This man tends to shut his season down after the TdF... Perhaps he will need to start preparing for the GTs that Pogacar does not target and racing beyond the summer because he is on a really big salary for his current level of performance and he has too many bad days to ever beat a healthy Pogacar over 3 weeks ... Funny how Visma paced all day two days running and lost time at the line on both days..DoctorNurse7125-07-2025
- No one mentioned the man of the day: Adam Yates. He hasn't done much this Tour, can't blame him for coming in under top form after doing the Giro. But his long, long pull after a grueling day kept everyone, even Vingo, from attacking until very late, which set up Pogi for a counter attack. Vingo knows he needs a lot more than the few seconds he can gain in the last two k's, but Yates absolutely shut him down. Kudos Adam!velodan25-07-2025
- pogačar’s ability to raise his level mid career really is just staggering. he’s gotten SO much stronger since the last time he and vingegaard faced each other both healthy. it’s kinda sad, but jonas’ career is really just OVER now. i’m actually anticipating something similar happening to mvdp next year. i’ve mentioned once before this so sorry for repetition, but i really expect pog to up his level again to make sure that he never loses roubaix or msr again either, just like he did when he got sick of losing to mathieu at flanders. i don’t think mvdp can improve enough to ever win there again against pogačar, but pogi can clearly find more and more watts when he wants or needs them. he also never fatigues at all, which is a great advantage he has over mathieu, who definitely feels it when he completely empties his tank one weekend during the classics season, then pays for it the following week. i think the only question mark left is whether or not pogačar can get to a point where he’s dominating bunch sprints, too. i realize that sounds insane and impossible, and i am half joking. half. this is a level of dominance that i think will ultimately exceed almost any other athlete in any sport. others come to mind, like alexander karelin, the olympic wrestler. but pog is like karelin as a middleweight who moves up and down in divisions and just dominates everywhere. or like a michael jordan who can ALSO completely dominate in the paint as a center. just staggering. the only questions left in cycling have to do with how much better pogačar will decide to get.OCexile25-07-2025
- What about a fine for visma for break checking with no one in front ,knowing pogacar was behind them ?captmike25-07-2025
i think he has got his head on straight. But still the tour is no place for riders who want stages in the mountains. UAE and Visma are going to go hammer and tongs