"I expected to crack completely" – Oscar Onley reflects on Tour de France breakthrough and sets sights on Rainbow Jersey in Rwanda

Oscar Onley wasn’t supposed to finish 4th at the 2025 Tour de France. A few months ago, the 22-year-old Scot was a promising rider with a strong engine and a quiet reputation. Now, after a Tour that saw him ride with the best climbers in the world and survive some of the race’s most brutal terrain without a full GC-focused team behind him, he’s a bona fide contender – and already thinking about what’s next.

“When I started the Tour, there was no focus on the general classification,” the Team Picnic PostNL star told Geraint Thomas and Luke Rowe on the Watts Occurring podcast. “I knew the first week suited me, so I aimed to get results from the peloton – but I couldn't afford to lose time on the harder days either.”

But as the race wore on, something shifted. Where others faltered, Onley endured. After holding seventh on GC going into the time trial – just 55 seconds down on Mathieu van der Poel’s yellow jersey – a steady if unspectacular ride against the clock saw him slip outside the top ten. Yet within 48 hours, he was back in the fight. And from that point on, he never really left.

“It kind of happened naturally,” he explained of his stealthy rise into the top ten. “I just kept riding my race and suddenly I was right up there.”

It wasn’t without crisis. In the high Alps, particularly on the stage to Col de la Loze, Onley looked briefly out of his depth. “There were a couple of points in that stage where I thought, ‘That’s it – top five, top six is gone.’ Felix Gall was up the road, I had no teammates around, and I was completely surrounded by UAE and Visma guys. It was just me and Johannessen, and we couldn’t do anything.”

At that moment, his GC bid looked doomed. But then came a message from his directeur sportif, Matt Winston. “He told me the guys were coming back – though I’m pretty sure he gave me time gaps that were a bit smaller than reality, just to keep me motivated.”

It worked. His teammates – most notably Frank van den Broek – reconnected with him before the final climb and buried themselves to get him back into contention. From there, the race unfolded in Onley’s favour. He didn’t just survive the Alps — he raced through them with composure and intelligence well beyond his years.

The performance came as a surprise to many – not least Onley himself. “After Suisse, we knew I was climbing well, but I’d never done climbs that long before, not at this level,” he said. “I expected to crack completely. But I was in decent shape, and there wasn’t much pressure. We just took it day by day.”

Indeed, what made Onley’s Tour all the more impressive was how unforced it seemed. There were no big solo moves, no headlines written in bold breakaways. Just consistent, smart riding. A rider not just surviving, but learning – and thriving – on the job.

Since Paris, Onley has already been back in action, finishing a solid 13th at the Clásica San Sebastián. But all roads now lead to Rwanda and the World Championships – the season’s next major target. He’s currently training at altitude in Andorra, trying to replicate the unique demands of the Rwandan parcours.

“That’s the big goal now,” he said. “I’m at about the same height here as the Worlds course. Not everyone can do that right now, so hopefully that gives me a bit of an advantage. If I can build properly, I think I can go a step further than last year.”

He’ll share leadership duties with Tom Pidcock – a dynamic that could either unlock the perfect tactical pairing or, as Onley acknowledges, hinge on race-day circumstances. “It’s a course that suits him as well. He’ll be coming off the Vuelta, so it’ll depend on how he’s feeling. It’s a bit like Liège in profile, but how the race is ridden will decide everything.”

Oscar Onley’s Tour wasn’t a swashbuckling, spotlight-stealing breakthrough. It was something more lasting — a steady, well-earned statement of intent. In a race stacked with firepower from UAE, Visma, and others, Onley held his own with far less support and far less expectation.

And that, perhaps, is what makes it so exciting. Because he didn’t explode onto the scene. He climbed into it – one measured effort at a time. As the sport eyes the future, Scotland might just have found its next GC star.