You’re probably not very familiar with the details of the 2022 edition of the CRO Race – Croatia’s biggest stage race. But for Team Picnic PostNL, it was one of the first occasions Oscar Onley demonstrated himself as one of the most talented young riders worldwide.
Just 19 at the time, Onley finished only two seconds down on Tour de France contender Jonas Vingegaard on the key stage between Sinj and Primošten, and a few days later, he repeated the result on the road from Opatija to Labin, before sealing third overall in the GC at the end of the race.
This wasn’t the Champs-Élysées or the high mountains of the Alps or Pyrenees of the Tour de France, but for his sports director Matt Winston, the young Scot’s performances in Croatia were a sign of things to come: "In Croatia, everyone was already thinking, 'who is this kid?', but we already saw it coming.
"A lot of people were surprised when you’re showing that level when you’re 19, 20, and you know he’s going to keep moving in the right direction, for sure, he’s hungry for more,” Winston tells me.
- Read more: Britain’s Oscar Onley is the surprise package of the Tour de France – we analyse the setup of his 'undercover' bike
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Daniel Benson is a Tour de France veteran, having covered 14 editions of the race as editor-in-chief of Cyclingnews and Velo, and now running his Substack newsletter. Through the 2025 Tour de France, Daniel will be writing a series of dispatches exclusively for BikeRadar, bringing you his unique insight into cycling’s greatest race and, as the Tour develops, a behind-the-scenes view that only a reporter with his contacts book can bring.
"We never talked about the GC at the start of the year"
Three years after that eye-opening ride in the Balkans, Onley finished fourth at the 2025 Tour de France.
Still only 22, he has battled through cross-winds and crashes from the opening week, survived the Massif Central, Pyrenees, and Alps, securing the best Scottish result in the Tour de France in decades.
Coming into the race, Winston talked about racing a ‘relaxed GC’ with Onley. That meant not giving up time in the first week but also not devoting the entire team to the rider’s needs. The main aim at the Tour was to win stages, and while Onley was a potential prospect for the top-20 or higher, it was never drilled into the riders at the race that GC was a primary target.
“We never put a number on it, in terms of what he had to do,” Winston said.
“I can promise you that we never talked about the GC at the start of the year. We talked about coming here for [stages] and trying to be in the race every day with the whole team.
"We really weren’t going for GC, but when you find yourself in that position, we’re not going to throw time away. And we said that at the start, too. That’s why I described it as a relaxed GC from the start,” he added.
Fourth in Paris, it’s a remarkable feat for one so young, especially when you consider that the rider from Kelso doesn’t ride for one of the major superpowers in the world of cycling.
He’s not on the roster for Ineos Grenadiers, UAE Team Emirates or Visma-Lease a Bike but the plunck Picnic PostNL team from the Netherlands.
Famed for producing talent rather than signing it, Onley is a product of their revered U23 team, which has sent a whopping six graduates to the Tour de France this summer – way more than any other WorldTour squad.
“When you have a guy like Oscar in the team, it motivates everyone to go the extra mile and find that extra edge to stay longer", says Winston.
"That’s driven by good team spirit, and that’s what we thrive on. Before the Tour, people were questioning our selection, but when morale is high and the team works well together – which comes from the six development guys who came through the same programme, lived together in Sittard, in the Netherlands – they’re really bouncing off each other now. They’re loving it,” Winston says.
As for Onley, his Tour de France has been founded on strong teamwork but also a series of gutsy rides through the mountains.
He was fifth on the mammoth stage to Hautacam, when yellow jersey Tadej Pogačar blew the entire race apart on the final slopes, and then backed that up with sterling performances in the Peyragudes mountain time trial and on Superbagnères.
If the Pyrenees were the second level of Onley’s Tour project after the solid foundations were laid in the first week, then the Alps were the final touches of brilliance.
'One of the best development teams in the world'
Given his age and lack of experience, this was only his second Tour de France start, many felt – including this journalist – that the final week of the race could be a step too far for the young rider.
The likes of Primož Roglič and others have far more experience, and the notion was that the longer climbs of the Alps could potentially unseat Onley’s early progress.
However, the 22-year-old was arguably even better in the final mountain tests. Granted, he was dropped early on the road to Courchevel (Col de la Loze), but he and his team delivered a masterclass performance, one of the highlights of the entire race, to bring Onley back into contention.
On the final climb, he was the only rider capable of keeping pace with Vingegaard and Pogačar before finishing fourth on the line and placing himself just a few seconds off the podium. The final mountain test to La Plagne was another tough day, and Onley crossed the line in fourth, a fair result that solidified his fourth place overall in Paris.
“He’s a super talent. I think we’ve got one of the best, if not the best, development teams in the world. We bring them through, and one thing that we don’t do is put big pressure on these young talents", says Winston.
I’m sure that outside of the race, everyone is getting excited about a young Scottish guy from Kelso, but there are six young guys in the team, all working together. Of course, they’re all talented, and that’s why they’re in the Tour de France, but we just keep the pressure off and help them enjoy it. These are the final steps of their development,” Winston said.
The next big thing?
Fourth overall in such a demanding Tour brings up the obvious question of whether Onley can one day return to the race and win it.
At 22, time is certainly on his side, but the gap between himself and the likes of Pogačar and Vingegaard is immense.
The Slovenian and Dane have dominated the race since the turn of the decade, but Onley is far younger and his ceiling as a pro rider is still unknown.
What’s clear is that he has made a huge jump in the last twelve months and that there’s a growing sense within his team that there’s far more to come in the next few years.
“I started working at British Cycling in 2007, developing talent,” Winston tells me.
“We’re 18 years down the line and I knew the first time that I met Oscar, that I met others like Max Poole, Tobias Lund, Pavel Bittner and other riders on this team, that these guys had the hunger to step up and be the world’s best riders in a few years' time.
"Oscar, he’s a quiet guy for the most part, a reflective guy, maybe a bit too hard on himself. But he’s doing a fantastic job, and sometimes a lot of the pressure comes from himself, but that just shows the character that he is. He just wants to be the best he can be, and that’s something that we can all aspire to,” he adds.
It’s certainly been an inspiring Tour from Onley and his Picnic Post-NL teammates.