"It's nice to prove to myself that I can be there" - Oscar Onley in the mix with Pogacar, Van der Poel & Vingegaard at 2025 Tour de France

In the all-star group of world champions, Grand Tour winners and superstar domestiques that battled for the win on stage 4 of the 2025 Tour de France, one name in particular stood out, Team Picnic PostNL's British GC hopeful Oscar Onley.

In just his second ever Tour de France, the 22-year-old Scot managed to bounce back from ill-timed crash at around 25km to go, working his way back through the riders being dropped, to reach the head of the race and then take 4th in an all-star sprint, only bettered by world champion Tadej Pogacar, Yellow Jersey Mathieu van der Poel and two-time Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard.

"I really went to the limit there on that climb, but yeah it's always good to be up there with those front guys," Onley exhales in a post-stage interview at the line with ITV Sport. "Before the stage, we said that if I was in position I should try to get 1st or 2nd going into that final corner. But I was really feeling it in the legs in that final kilometre and that was all I had."

Nevertheless, surrounded by the biggest superstars in the sport, Onley continues to prove himself. "It's pretty cool, I mean, it doesn't get much bigger than this in terms of races and competitors," he assesses. "So, it's nice to prove to myself that I can be there. Right at the top."

There was no chance of Onley using his underdog status to surprise those superstars in the finale though, as he admits himself. "I was absolutely dead," he admits in conclusion. "When it's fast and flat like that I'd never stay away, especially with Matteo Jorgenson and Joao Almeida there, really strong riders in their own right, doing a job for their leaders. I didn't have much of a chance.