'Never enough to do any damage' - Onley eyes Calar Alto test after crosswind tension

There was a risk of echelons as the Vuelta a España peloton made its way through the wind-exposed flatlands on Murcia on stage 11, but the dreaded abanicos never quite materialised.

No matter, Oscar Onley and his Netcompany-Ineos team were parked near the head of the bunch when Tudor, EF Education-EasyPost, Bahrain Victorious and XDS Astana briefly split the race, but it all came back together long before the bunch sprint won by Matthew Brennan (Visma).

“Yeah, we were talking about it before the stage and we kind of went in with the mindset that it would split, even though when you looked at the actual strength of the wind, it wasn’t likely to do anything,” Onley told Eurosport. “It was just enough to cause a bit of stress, but there was never enough to do any damage.”

Onley lies fourth overall, 2:20 down on Enric Mas (Movistar) as the Vuelta passes its midpoint, but he will have designs on the podium finish – or perhaps more – in the aftermath of Tadej Pogačar’s abandon.

The Scot suffered from a bout of illness early in week one, though he finished with the podium contenders on the following day’s miniature epic to Andorra. His worst day of the week came on the gravel of Puerto El Bartolo, when he paid a price for trying to follow Pogačar’s acceleration.

Three days later, however, Onley impressed on the stage 9 summit finish on the Alto de Aitana, where he was the only rider to live with Mas’ onslaught in the final 3km. Onley couldn’t quite come around Mas for stage victory, but it confirmed his recovery from his early illness.

“I think it took me quite a few days to recover from that,” Onley said. “I felt back to normal on Sunday and had a good rest day, and then these last two days have been quite relaxed. So yeah, I’m hoping for some good legs in the coming days.”

Thursday’s summit finish at Calar Alto is the next major rendezvous for the general classification contenders. The stage through the province of Almeria takes in the ascent of the Alto de Velefique ahead of the finale on Calar Alto, where Miguel Ángel Lopez soloed to victory back in 2017.

“I don’t know this region of Spain, really, so it’ll be a nice surprise,” said Onley.

While Onley will be on his preferred – if unfamiliar – terrain on Calar Alto, he knows that his Vuelta could hinge on the 32km time trial to Jerez de la Frontera next week. Like many GC men at the Vuelta, he has been performing his warmdowns aboard his time trial bike, and he also took the machine out on for a ride on Monday’s rest day.

“Not my choice,” Onley smiled. “But no, I think obviously it’s good to spend some time in the position. At home, I would be training on it, but when you’re on a race, you’re obviously not riding on it much. It’s good to get a bit of time on the position – but I can’t say I enjoy it.”