Oscar Onley is wet. The final day of possibly the best three weeks of his life has seen the heavens open in Paris, making it a wet Champs-Élysées. He might be soaked, but the 22-year-old is proud, proud of his fourth place at the Tour de France at just his second opportunity.
The Picnic PostNL rider didn't come to this Tour to finish in the top five overall, he came to help his team with stage wins and yet here he is, fourth behind Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard, and Florian Lipowitz.
"I guess this is a really big moment in my career," he said post-stage, after he had been greeted by beaming teammates, and the hugs and high fives had been dispensed with. "I don't really realise it yet but I think just from talking to other riders in the bunch, going forward, we have something to build on and an exciting project for the future. It's definitely sparked a bit of a dream I guess.
"I hadn't ever thought about a top five in the Tour before, so to get it on my first try at GC is quite something. I'm excited for the future."
Excited for the future he should be, given this was his first aim at the overall at the biggest race of them all; if it wasn't for two generational riders in Pogačar and Vingegaard, he would have been second.
The man from Kelso impressed over three weeks, regularly being the last man with Vingegaard and Pogačar on the road, the best of the rest. Next, he will have to become used to the attention and pressure to perform again, where he goes.
He was active again on Sunday, even if the general classification times were neutralised before the Montmartre circuit was introduced. He was even involved with third-placed Florian Lipowitz on the final day, though the battle for third was already over.
"That was a pretty crazy circuit," he said. "It's a good job the times were neutralised I think. It was really nice, the last time up Montmartre, I could kind of soak it up with the guys around me. It was quite cool. Coming onto the Champs-Élysées on the first couple of laps, it was pretty special. It has been a really special three weeks, with the whole team.
"I was told to follow some moves to cover for Toby [Tobias Lund Andresen]. I saw Quinn Simmons going, and he's a dangerous guy to go, and Lipo [Lipowtiz] just came over the top of me and I had nothing left. I couldn't even close the gap, but it's good fun."
Oscar Onley is probably dry by now, ready to celebrate his big win. It might not have landed yet, but this was a special performance. Next time, maybe he'll realise how good it is.
