In the end, it was a bit of an anti-climax. Oscar Onley came into stage 19 of the Tour de France just 22 seconds off the podium, raising hopes that there would be a final GC twist in this race, a first British white jersey since Adam Yates in 2016.
In the end, it was not to be. Picnic PostNL's Onley strengthened his position in fourth, with a gap of five minutes on Felix Gall in fifth, but he lost time to Florian Lipowitz in third, with that brief podium dream disappearing. It should not be seen as a disappointment, though.
"If you came to the Tour de France and you said Oscar would finish in the top 10 of GC and then the top five, then we would have taken that, so I think we can be super proud of his performance," his sports director, Matt Winston, said post-stage. "Even up until yesterday, we were not even thinking about a podium position.
"Obviously after yesterday where took a bit of time, then you start thinking 'hmm, maybe it's possible'. But it was only yesterday we really started to think about that. So we've just been taking it step by step. I think Oscar did a really a good ride today, and showed again that he can climb consistently that he can climb with the best guys in the world, which before the race was unknown, so we take a lot from that."
He was with Lipowitz, Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard until very late on on the climb to La Plagne, a select group indeed, a position that wasn't expected before the Tour from many. The odds would have been very long.
The story should not be Onley fails to make podium, but instead Onley shows how good he is in the biggest race, becoming one of a handful of Britons to ever be in the top five on GC, at just 22. Friday was his eighth top-10 finish on a stage at this Tour.
"I think it's absolutely fantastic," Winston explained. "22-years-old, he's shown maturity beyond his years throughout the three weeks. Oscar is the sort of guy who's not going to get ahead of himself, he's going to keep sticking to his process, sticking to the process of how we're working with him, and we'll keep developing him and we'll come back to the Tour again and give it another go I'm sure.
"It's an incredible achievement," he continued. "I think before the Tour, we talked about the day results, but I also said to Oscar normally in the Tour, the top 10 is spread by 25 minutes and even when you go for day results, you can probably still not lose more than 25 minutes, so maybe we'll be eighth or ninth or tenth. I think that was realistic before the start.
"That's why in my first interviews I called it a 'relaxed GC', because eight, ninth, 10th, is. You can lose some time one day and go in a break the next day and take the time back. To finish in the top six, where we were on the last rest day, I would have taken that, and certainly to finish in the top four of the Tour I think is fantastic and a real positive."
Onley has gained support – his Onley fans – and truly announced himself at this Tour de France. Let's celebrate that, and then look ahead to a very promising future.
