Oscar Onley still on the rise in breakout Tour de France

Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL) has been one of the revelations of the Tour de France so far, and continued to impress with another mightily strong performance on the stage 13 individual time trial to Peyragudes. The 22-year-old Briton was hardly seen throughout his effort on the TV cameras but he powered his way to seventh on the stage, 2:06 behind Tadej Pogačar. 

He has moved up to fifth in the general classification, 8:11 behind the Slovenian but only 47 seconds off Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep), who currently occupies the final spot on the podium.

Speaking after his effort, Onley acknowledged the toll of two tough mountain stages in a row, and remained modest about his very impressive performance.

"It was okay, I was suffering a bit after yesterday, which is also normal, I think, but yeah, I'm just looking at times now, and it looks like we're all suffering a little bit, I think, but I did what I could," said Onley to ITV after his effort.

One of the key features of the time trial was the super steep finishing straight, and this was something that the riders, including Onley, had to take into account when pacing their efforts.

"Yeah, with the steep runway at the end, you really had to hold back a bit, which is quite difficult, because the rest of the climb was just an uncomfortable gradient," Onley explained. "You see some guys on TT bikes and on road bikes, and so it wasn't easy to manage.”

As is the case with most time trials that include an extensive amount of climbing, there was wide mix of set-ups used, with some opting for the aero time-trial machines, whilst others prefer a lighter road bike for climbing. Onley opted for the time trial set-up.

“I struggled quite a bit on the TT bike, for sure. I can't put out the same power as my road bike position. But when you can get this down as light as possible, I think it makes quite a big difference," he said.

Onley was further asked about his strategy and what information he wanted the team to give him during the course of his efforts.

“I told them just to remind me of the gradients. But with the crowd and earpiece, I couldn't really hear anything. So I was just in my own thoughts," Onley said.

The interview rounded out with a reminder of what's to come. "We go again tomorrow," the interviewer said, to which Onley jokingly replied: "Yeah, thanks for reminding me."

Stage 14 is the final stage in the Pyrenees and features four major climbs, including the Col du Tourmalet and a summit finish on Superbagnères, a route which is modelled from the stage in the 1986 edition, which was won by Greg LeMond.