‘I was up all night’ – Oscar Onley hit by another setback but comes through first Vuelta a España GC showdown

Oscar Onley has had a wretched season and he must have been cursing the cycling gods once again as he revealed he was beset by illness ahead of the first big test of the Vuelta a España.

The British rider, fourth at last year’s Tour de France, has been hit by illnesses and crashes since his high-profile move to Netcompany-Ineos and is racing the Vuelta after missing the Tour through injury.

Onley placed fourth on the short stage 4 journey through the Andorran Pyrenees, the opening mountain stage of the race after the cancellation of stage 3, taking third place from the select group of contenders that came home behind the dominant solo winner Tadej Pogačar.

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However, all was not entirely well for Onley.

“Considering I was up all night on the toilet, I’m actually pretty happy,” he said in a brief interview with the race organisation’s media team at the finish.

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Asked if he was suffering with stomach problems, he simply confirmed: “Yeah.”

Onley went on to concede that the red jersey on the shoulders of Pogačar is out of reach and that he is effectively riding a different race, for second place.

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The Decathlon CMA CGM team of Felix Gall, who beat Onley to the recent Vuelta a Burgos crown, took control of Tuesday’s short but explosive stage, but Pogačar lit the fuse some 50km from home on the Collada de Beixalis, soloing over that climb along with the Coll d’Ordino and Alto de la Comella to win alone by nearly three minutes.

“No, not really,” Onley said when asked if there was anything to be done against Pogačar’s might. “We just let him do his thing, then we raced between ourselves.

“I knew I couldn’t go with that attack, so yeah, I just did what I could on that climb,” he added.

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Onley was the only rider able to respond when Gall tried again on the Coll d’Ordino, but the chase group expanded to include six riders by the finish, with Primož Roglič, Jarno Widar, Enric Mas, and Sepp Kuss also in attendance.

“It was ok,” Onley said of the collaboration. “It was a bit complicated, but it was alright.”

Onley, who had a poor opening time trial in Monaco, moved up to fifth overall, 3:45 down on Pogačar but, in terms of the more relevant reference points, lies 24 seconds behind second-placed Roglič and 13 seconds behind third-placed Mas.

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