Oscar Onley’s approach to his debut Grand Tour couldn’t have gone much better. His first-ever stint of altitude training in July had led to 10th place overall at the Tour de Pologne, and he set off for the Vuelta a España with justifiable optimism.
The Vuelta itself couldn’t have started much better either, Onley’s Team dsm-firmenich squad emerged victorious from the gloom and polemics of the opening night team time trial in Barcelona, putting Lorenzo Milesi in the red jersey.
Less than 24 hours later, however, Onley’s Vuelta was already over. Months of work were struck off in an instant when the Scot’s wheels slipped from under him on a corner. While the Vuelta peloton sped back into Barcelona, Onley was brought to hospital for assessment of his broken collarbone.
“To be honest, it was probably harder mentally than physically,” Onley told Cyclingnews at the Tour of Guangxi. “To crash out of a Grand Tour, especially your first one, is mentally quite difficult, particularly after all the work I’d put in over the summer. I’d focused on this a lot of the year, so it was quite hard.”
Onley’s frustration probably wasn’t helped by the way the Vuelta unfolded. The 21-year-old had intended to hunt a stage victory in Spain rather than ride for the general classification, and almost every time he switched on the television, he found himself watching a missed opportunity.
“I know it’s easy to say now that I could have done something, but I was quite confident that I could do something across the three weeks. I could from my numbers that I was going well,” Onley said. “I was going there for stage opportunities, and it turned out that there were a lot of chances with all the breakaways.”
Onley missed the chance to learn through experience about the rigours of Grand Tour racing, but he seems to have absorbed other lessons from this business already. Rather than dwell on his truncated Vuelta, he set about focusing on the road ahead. The Tour of Guangxi had always been pencilled into his 2023 schedule, and now that Chinese expedition gave a sense of purpose to his convalescence.
Within four weeks, Onley was already pinning on a number at the CRO Tour, and he lined out at Il Lombardia last weekend before boarding the plane to China. “The form’s kind of been building slowly since Croatia, so I’m quite excited for this week,” said Onley, who ran through his scales with an acceleration on the final climb of Saturday’s circuit race in Nanning, shredding the peloton in the process.
It was a signal of intent for Sunday’s key GC day to Nongla, with the 3km climb to the finish likely to decide the destination of the red jersey. Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates) is the favourite, but Onley has shown an aptitude for the kind of short, sharp effort required here.
“I’ve watched the highlights from the last couple of years and it looks like quite a hard climb, so I don’t know how many guys will be up there on Sunday,” Onley said. “But I’m expecting a hard fight and I’m hoping to be up there myself.”
Bigger expectations
Whatever the result in Nongla, Onley’s first full season at WorldTour level has offered further hints of his potential after his break-out display at last year’s CRO Tour, where he went toe to toe with Jonas Vingegaard himself on the two most demanding stages. It was a performance that demanded attention, even if Onley wasn’t fully aware of its impact in the moment.
“At the time, I didn’t really think of how big a result it was or how much attention it was getting because, in the race, he was just another rider,” Onley said. “But looking back, it gave me nice confidence to take into races, knowing that when I’m on my top shape, then I can also compete, at least on those five and ten-minute climbs.”
Onley showed as much in 2023 with sixth overall at the Tour of Hungary and second at the Alpes Isère Tour in May, though he admitted that he had run out of steam slightly by the time he hit the Critérium du Dauphiné the following month. Then again, such teething problems are all part of the process. His performance in Poland suggested he was firmly on track. And, despite the disappointment of the Vuelta, the sun hasn’t set on his season just yet. The climb to Nongla calls.
“I didn’t come into the season with too many expectations, it was more about getting a feeling for WorldTour races and seeing how it would go,” he said. “As this season has gone on, I’ve seen I can compete for results in bigger races. So maybe my expectations have got a little bit higher. I’m not disappointed, but I’m still missing that big result this year. So hopefully, this week, I can do something.”
