"I can't really say so much just now" - Is INEOS actually going to be able to snatch Oscar Onley?

Tom Dumoulin, Michael Matthews, Marc Hirschi, Charlotte Kool... Oscar Onley? Team Picnic PostNL over the past decade have gained a reputation for losing their star riders and leaders before the end of their contract and this means that every rider that grows within the team is object to interest from rival teams. And the possibility of INEOS Grenadiers taking over the Scottish climber in a 'steal' seems to be increasing.

Onley is in Australia where soon he will be racing the Tour of Bright, part of the Australian summer calendar, in preparation towards the 2026 season. "To be honest, I haven't spoken about the calendar other than Down Under for next year yet," Onley shared in words to Cyclingnews. He will soon make the trip to Spain to reconnect with the Dutch team. "That will happen next week, when we're at team camp, which is normal at the December camp to talk about the year."

However will he still be part of it by the time December comes to an end. It's not certain: "For now, yes. We'll see. But yeah, it's still things up in the air a little bit". Onley has a contract until the end of 2027, meaning two more full seasons with Picnic, and such a statement confirms that despite his contractual situation, he does not see staying as a full certainty. This goes along with the trend of other riders that have left, even in the women's team as recently team leader Charlotte Kool herself was part of a bizarre mid-season move to Fenix-Deceuninck after four seasons with Picnic PostNL. 

Onley was pressed on the transfer matter, revealing a massive amount of contacts he has received after his fourth place at the Tour de France, where he absolutely broke out as a potential future Grand Tour winner, at only age 23. In a peloton where contracts - specially between stars - are being broken more and more often, Onley's could be another. And it is known that for many months, INEOS Grenadiers specially have been trying to make the move happen, as it had happened with Remco Evenepoel previously - and also most likely Derek Gee, who broke his contract with Israel - Premier Tech in August.

"It's quite obvious that there's going to be interest in me after coming fourth in the Tour, and there's been, I think, probably 15 teams that have reached out to my manager or reached out to the team directly," Onley reveals. "And you know… you also have to capitalize on what I've done this year, but, yeah, I can't really say so much just now."

The door is open for Onley to leave Picnic PostNL, which would come as a crushing blow to the team after the retirement of Romain Bardet, the departure of Tobias Lund Andresen and the lack of performances from Fabio Jakobsen. With the loss of Onley the team would be at serious risk of entering relegation positions, and at this time of year signing a new leader is no easy feat.

As for INEOS the situation also remains rather unstable. Only recently did it announce the renewal of five riders, with three positions now left. Derek Gee was supposedly joining the British team but is still involved in legal issues, Sam Welsford and Jack Haig are both with the British team at their current training camp in Spain but have not publicly been announced as new riders, but Onley would be the absolute priority out of all the four riders on paper. Interesting times ahead for the team, who is playing its cards in the market carefully.