With a local hero and 4️⃣ home-nation riders in our line-up, we're all set for a hard edition of #TourofBritain🇬🇧 which is front-loaded with hard stages before some sprint opportunities later in the week 💪🏻 Coach @pimligthart explains our goals for the race 👇🏻
Oscar Onley looks towards Tour of Britain after motivating Tour de France - "The coaches of the team say I’m too hard on myself"
CyclingTuesday, 03 September 2024 at 13:00
Oscar Onley is another of Team DSM-Firmenich PostNL's many talents, who has emerged this season to truly show his face at the highest level. He won at Willunga Hill back in January, finished eighth at the Tour de Suisse; and although he was largely absent from the action he got new motivation from his Tour de France debut.
“The Tour was a great experience and I’m so glad I got the opportunity to do it. It’s so much bigger than any other race I’d done and at times, it felt like a different sport so it was a great learning experience and it gives me a lot of motivation for the future," Onley said in an interview with The Herald Scotland. “A few times, I got into the breaks and put myself in a position to go for a result. But physically, I need to get stronger so that I’m fresher in those final moments of the stages".
His debut in the French Grand Tour saw DSM win on the first day of the race with Romain Bardet; whilst Onley himself had his race highlight on stage 17 where he finished fifth after being in the day's breakaway. "Mentally, it was very challenging too – you have to be switched on for 21 days and that takes its toll. You have to just accept that you’ll be suffering all day. The Tour is such a high level so it’s a huge confidence boost to have gotten through it.”
He then rode the Tour de Pologne, racing to a tenth place overall and a couple of strong finishes. He comes with good form to Britain likely and the race starts in the city of Kelso, exactly his birthplace. “It’s so exciting to be racing in Britain, and especially the first stage in Kelso, that’s special. I’ll be going for the GC – the course doesn’t suit me perfectly but hopefully it’s a hard race and I'll have a few chances."
"Hopefully kids will see where I’ve come from and what I’ve managed to do and it’ll make them believe it’s possible," he adds. He will be one of the many GC contenders in a race that is relatively open, with three hilly days but none of them being overly tough to create big differences.
“I feel I’ve still got a lot of room for improvement and I’m setting my targets a bit higher for next season. Sometimes I need to take a step back and appreciate what I’ve done this season because I’m not great at that – I’m always looking forward. The coaches of the team say I’m too hard on myself. I’m proud of what I’ve done so far, but I definitely want to go for bigger results and better performances in the future," he concluded.
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