Onley’s podium dream dashed on stage 19 to La Plagne

Oscar Onley started stage 19 of the Tour de France with hopes of moving onto the Tour de France podium, but ended the day with those hopes dashed in the run-in to La Plagne.

The Picnic-PostNL rider had been in contention for a podium finish since the race left the Pyrenees last weekend, and began Friday’s shortened stage between Albertville and the ski resort at La Plagne just 22 seconds behind Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe), a bridge that seemed eminently crossable after the German’s poor performance on Thursday.

There, Lipowitz had attacked on the final climb, before dramatically losing time in the closing kilometres, while Onley put in perhaps his best performance, finishing just behind the Tour’s main protagonists, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike).

Onley and his team will have hoped for a similar capitulation on Friday when, as he did on stage 18, Lipowitz’s team mate, Primož Roglič, headed up the road in a questionable tactical move. Hopes would have remained high when Roglič was brought back, and lifted even higher, when the Scotsman bridged to Pogačar, leaving Lipowitz trailing.

But it wasn’t to be, the pace eased, the Germain got back on and, with 2km to go, it was Onley’s turn to slide off the back, eventually losing 41 seconds to his rival, leaving him 1.03 behind Lipowitz’s third place with only two stages to go. And with no mountains on Saturday’s stage between Natua and Pontalier, there are few opportunities.

“We’ll look to defend that fourth place and when there’s opportunities, if there’s opportunities, of course we’ll look at,” said Picnic-PostNL sports director, Matt Winston. “I think a minute on the course tomorrow will be difficult, with the flat run-in in the final, it will be hard to take a minute and not get ridden down, but overall we can really be happy with how Oscar and the guys have done.”

And they can be. At 22 years old, Onley is very early in his development, the team drip feeding him a programme of ever more challenging races over the three years he’s been with them. This year’s Tour is only his second three-week race, and to finish so close to the podium is hugely encouraging, especially considering the company he has kept. Riding with Pogačar and Vingegaard suggests real talent.

“I think a great performance again,” continued Winston. “Fifth again on the stage and eight top 10s overall in this Tour de France, we came here to go for day results and eight top 10s, I think is pretty successful. And we’re probably going to be top five by the time we get to Paris, so I think overall a really fantastic job by Oscar and the team.

Though Onley sits fourth overall, exactly five minutes ahead of fifth-placed Felix Gall (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale), nothing is ever a certainty in sport, and the team remain cautious, especially with Saturday’s penultimate stage likely to be aggressive, plenty of teams hoping to salvage a result before the race concludes on Sunday. 

“We’re here for day results, so we’re going to go for two more chances see if we can get the guys in the break tomorrow, sprint in Paris, so we still have a lot to play for. We’ll have to see how we go in the start,” Winston said of stage 20. “It’s an uphill start, so Frank [Van den Broek] or Warren [Barguil], and if Felix [Gall] is going in the break, then Oscar is as well.”