Oscar Onley is arguably the surprise package of the 2025 Tour de France.
The 22-year-old Scottish rider has been a near constant at the sharp end of the battle for the yellow jersey, and has raised eyebrows thus far with his consistent performances against the likes of Tadej Pogačar, Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel.
Perhaps, this shouldn’t have come as too much of a surprise following the PicnicPost-NL rider’s third place in the Tour de Suisse general classification in June, but it’s another thing entirely to carry that form into the Grand Boucle.
We grabbed Onley’s bike at the Grand Départ in Lille to see what setup he was running.
At first glance, it was just an ordinary Lapierre Xelius DRS, but then a team mechanic whispered in my ear…
A new lightweight Xelius DRS frameset
The Lapierre Xelius DRS that Onley has been riding is, in fact, a new model hiding in plain sight, according to my new best friend in the PicnicPost-NL team mechanics' truck.
The changes are limited to the carbon layup, I was told, saving “some” weight versus the standard frames – a Xelius DRS ‘SL’, if you will. We’ve seen Pinarello apply the same trick in the past, creating ‘X-Lite’ versions of its Dogma race bikes.
It’s also a notable reveal, given Lapierre only launched the Xelius DRS in October 2024, effectively blending the old Aircode DRS aero and Xelius SL lightweight frames.
He was responding to my query as to why Onley’s bike had a plainer blue paintjob than the rest of the team bikes I could see, which had a more metallic lustre. This too, he said, was also to save a little weight from the standard bike.
I’d imagine it’s also useful for the team mechanics to know which frame is which at a glance, be it in the truck or mounted to the top of a team car.
As standard as pro standard comes
Despite the reveal that the Xelius DRS ‘SL’ is the platform for Onley’s build, the Scot’s bike is fairly standard fare.
A Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 R9200 drivetrain is present and correct, complete with Shimano’s FC-R9200-P power meter crankset.
Onley’s bike was sporting Shimano’s 54/40-tooth chainrings at the Grand Départ, along with a wide-spread 11-34t cassette out back. For a rider of his type (ostensibly a climber, at 173cm tall, and 62kg, as listed on procyclingstats.com), it’s unlikely he’ll feel the need to change this for the duration of the race.
He combines this with 172.5mm cranks – contrary to the latest trend towards running shorter cranks, albeit he’s by no means alone in this regard.
Onley is using Shimano Dura-Ace SPD-SL pedals, in line with his team's sponsorship agreement – Wahoo is also listed as a team partner, but this is limited to the use of the brand’s Elemnt computers.
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Italian rolling stock
At the Grand Départ, Onley’s bike was fitted with Ursus Proxima 50 Team Edition wheels, although Onley has the deeper 60mm variants at his disposal for the flattest stages of the race.
These feature 23mm-wide (internal) hooked rims. In line with ETRTO (European Tyre & Rim Technical Organisation) recommendations, he’s using Vittoria Corsa Pro TLR tyres in a 28mm width.
Onley also has the use of some new, as-yet unreleased carbon-spoked wheels from the Italian brand.
These are likely to be designed to be stiffer than the standard steel-spoked counterparts, as well as a little lighter. Given that the team hadn’t fitted them with Vittoria’s wide-rim-optimised 29mm Corsa Pro TLR tyres, we suspect the rims are below 25mm wide internally.
Fit for Onley
Onley is using Lapierre’s one-piece integrated cockpit, with a 130mm stem length and 360mm-wide bar section, measured centre-to-centre.
The space between the hoods, which are cantered inwards, measures 285mm across – 35mm less than the UCI’s slated 2026 regulations will allow, of course.
Right now, Onley’s setup is geared towards reducing his frontal area and improving aerodynamics, while his stature might dictate that he finds it more comfortable than a wider bar.
He’s also opted for a zero-setback seatpost, commonly used by pro riders to position them at a steeper angle related to the bottom bracket. In theory, this opens the hip angle for improved pedalling efficiency.
Atop this is a Prologo Dimension R2 saddle with the brand’s NACK carbon rails.
The bike weighs 7.55kg in total, including two empty bottles in the cages, pedals, bike computer mount and Onley’s Wahoo Elemnt Bolt 3.
Specs | Oscar Onley’s Lapierre Xelius DRS ‘SL’ for the 2025 Tour de France
- Frameset: Unreleased Lapierre Xelius DRS ‘SL’
- Groupset: Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 R9200, 53x40t chainrings with 10-34t cassette
- Wheelset: Ursus Proxima 50 Team Edition
- Power meter: Shimano Dura-Ace FC-R9200-P, 172.5mm cranks
- Tyres: Vittoria Corsa Pro TLR, 700x28c
- Handlebar: Lapierre Semi-integrated Combo UD carbon
- Seatpost: Lapierre Xelius DRS carbon
- Saddle: Prologo Dimension R2
- Bottle cages: Elite Leggero Carbon
- Pedals: Shimano Dura-Ace SPD-SL
- Weight: 7.55kg
