'I was pushing but I couldn't feel my legs' - GB's Oscar Onley on his breakout World Championships ride
The 21-year-old was the youngest man in the top-20 in Zürich and matched some of the big guns on his way to 16th
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274km of racing. Over 4,300m of elevation. A rampaging Tadej Pogačar. It was not the easiest of introductions for Great Britain's Oscar Onley to the world of UCI Road World Championships road races on Sunday.
The 21-year-old, however, held his nerve through his baptism of fire in Zürich. After sticking with what was left of the peloton as the bunch was severely whittled down, Onley was the last British rider standing, and was even part of a promising move with Latvia's Toms Skujiņš and Ireland's Ben Healy at a key point of the race.
While this group was brought back, and Onley ended up dropping from the chase for the podium, finishing 16th, he was still Britain's best finisher, and the youngest man in the top-30.
Article continues below"It was brutal," he told Cycling Weekly. "I said before the race that I wanted to finish empty, having given it everything, and I definitely did that. I'm quite happy with how I rode. I put myself in the best position, I think, and then ultimately it is down the legs, and I have to accept that's my level. It's really fun to be racing in the [GB] jersey, and to be with the boys all weekend, it was really nice."
Onley was not the only British rider to be off the front of the race, with Stevie Williams featuring in the break which formed on the Zürich circuit. That was sadly detonated by Pogačar's attack from 100km out, but it showed GB's intent.
"If you look at the team, it's really strong, but not one guy that can follow Pogačar," Onley explained. "We were all given a free role, and try and anticipate, as everyone says. We did that in the best way we could, first with Stevie, and then with myself. In the end, it's down to the legs."
When the moment came to head up the road with Skujiņš and Healy, Onley took it, despite his lack of experience compared to other people in that chase group - he was with Mathieu van der Poel, Remco Evenepoel and Marc Hirschi to name three - and was up the road. However, he was under no illusions that this was going to be simple.
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"I was on the limit," he said. "I said before the race to someone that Toms and Ben would be good for this kind of circuit, they're so strong. When I was with them, I was happy that I could get towed along a bit, but I also knew that I was in for a hard ride.
"The steep climb the last time, I was pushing but I couldn't feel my legs. It was a weird sensation, cos it's not something I've had before actually. I was pushing and going nowhere."
It might not have been the top 10 that Onley hoped for, but the British rider can go home content with his performance, knowing there will be many more opportunities to come. "I did what I could on the day," as he put it. That's all you can do.
Adam is Cycling Weekly’s news editor – his greatest love is road racing but as long as he is cycling, he's happy. Before joining CW in 2021 he spent two years writing for Procycling. He's usually out and about on the roads of Bristol and its surrounds.
Before cycling took over his professional life, he covered ecclesiastical matters at the world’s largest Anglican newspaper and politics at Business Insider. Don't ask how that is related to riding bikes.