'Another step on the ladder' - Vuelta marks key test for Onley and Ineos rebuild

Tadej Pogačar, as expected, was in a league entirely of his own in the principality, but Onley was very clearly among the best of the rest, coming home in the first chasing group at 2:39. In the overall standings, he moved up to fifth, 3:45 off the unassailable Pogačar but just 24 seconds off second place.

Netcompany-Ineos were left rudderless at the Tour de France when Onley – fourth in 2025 – missed the race following a heavy crash at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Much like Bradley Wiggins for Team Sky after his abandon on the 2011 Tour, Onley is on this Vuelta seeking to reaffirm his credentials as a Grand Tour contender.

“It was a positive day, especially because it confirms we’re here to fight for the general classification,” Netcompany-Ineos sports director Imanol Erviti said afterwards. “It’s the objective of the team and we’re working for it, obviously.”

Onley scored his first victory for his new team on stage 2 of the Vuelta a Burgos, and he would go on to finish the race in second overall behind Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM), who joins him among the chief contenders for a podium spot here. 

The Vuelta is still long and it would be unwise to extrapolate too much from the evidence of the miniature epic in Andorra, but Gall, Onley and Primoz Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) looked the best of the rest behind Pogačar.

“In Burgos, he already showed that he had very good legs and that he was going to arrive at the Vuelta in very good shape, and he’s earned this support on the road,” said Erviti.

With Carlos Rodríguez losing almost 23 minutes in Andorra, the hierarchy of the Ineos squad is abundantly clear, even if Erviti indicated that the Spaniard was always set to ride in support of Onley here.

“He didn’t have his best day,” Erviti said. “Carlos is a great climber, and perhaps we expected to find him further up, but I have no doubt that he'll find his moment in the race and he’ll be a great support for Oscar. That’s been the intention from the beginning.”

Erviti was reluctant to put a number on Onley’s ultimate objective for this Vuelta. The 23-year-old was signed with the aim of restoring the team to relevance at the Tour, and Ineos appear to be viewing this Vuelta as a step in that process after a trying debut season.

Onley started on a positive note with a fine showing in a high-octane Volta ao Algarve, but illness forced him to abandon both Paris-Nice and the Volta a Catalunya, while a promising start to the Dauphiné was ruined by his horrific crash on the descent of the Côte d'Héry sur Ugine.

“The first objective is to grow in this race, because it hasn’t been an easy year and we know he’s in good shape,” Erviti said. “We don’t want to think about a specific position. We want to do our maximum and grow as much as possible in this race. It’s another step on the ladder of his development. It’s very necessary, and we want to fight until the end for the best possible result.”