'It's not really sunk in yet' - Oscar Onley stuns with fourth place on Tour de France stage four

As he warmed down outside his team bus in Rouen, Oscar Onley pulled out his phone and went straight to ProCyclingStats. He scrolled down the page, clicked on stage four of the Tour de France – the race that he had just finished – and hurriedly looked for his own result.

“I wasn’t sure if Romain [Grégoire, Groupama-FDJ] had come round me at the end or not. I was pretty cross-eyed at the finish. I wasn’t sure what happened,” he told Cycling Weekly.

The Picnic PostNL rider's research confirmed that Grégoire had not managed to pass him. In order, the stage results read: Tadej Pogačar, Mathieu van der Poel, Jonas Vingegaard, Oscar Onley. Still just 22 years old and riding only his second Tour, the Scot was among the sport’s biggest names and superstars.

“It’s not really sunk in yet,” Onley said. “It’s always nice to be racing against these guys. I really get a kick out of racing against the top guys, so it’s always good fun.”

As the race approached Rouen, it looked like Pogačar and Vingegaard would contest the day on their own. The world champion attacked inside 6km to go, with Vingegaard the only rider able to follow him. The pair then summited the final climb of the lumpy run-in together, but were caught by a chasing group, containing Onley, before the end.

“I thought that we had a chance of catching them again,” Onley said. Next came the uphill drag to the line. “I had tactics before the stage, but I was really just on the limit and hanging on. It was whatever I could do in the final.”

In the days before this year’s Tour, Onley spoke to Cycling Weekly on the terrace of his team hotel about the prospect of taking the race to Pogačar and Vingegaard.

The pair had won the last five Tours between them, their teams sharing almost a third of the stage victories in that same period. Did he find it demoralising to hunt wins against them? The answer was a resounding no.

“Maybe because I’m young, I’m naive and I still think that I can do anything,” he smiled. Stage four’s result – his best ever at the Tour de France – proved he isn’t far off.

Still, he made clear, “I don’t want to get ahead of myself – I know my place, and it’s a different story on other climbs.

“I’m just trying to get results, whether that’s stages or overall, in the end, we’ll see after three weeks. It’s really just [about] picking the days that suit me and going all in for them, and trying to relax on the days that aren’t so important.”

Midway through Onley’s warm-down, his Picnic PostNL sports director Matt Winston walked over to give him a high five. Few words were exchanged – Onley could barely speak after his finish-line sprint – but it was clear the young protégé had impressed.

“We’ve known for the last few years,” Winston said of Onley’s ability. “We’ve seen glimpses of it.

“[He had a] breakthrough last year on Willunga Hill at the Tour Down Under, and then he started to be known. Actually, if you look back at Oscar’s results over the last 18 months [ed: stage win and 3rd overall at Tour de Suisse, 5th UAE Tour, 2nd Tour of Britain] you see he’s actually quite consistent in WorldTour one-week races. We’re making steps, and we continue to do so.”

Now 7th in the GC, might Onley scrap stage hunting for a high placing in Paris? “The plan doesn’t change for now: we keep focusing on stages and see how far we can come,” Winston said. “We’re just trying to keep the pressure down and focus on the team effort.”