Stage 12 of the Tour de France saw the first main mountain-top finish of the race with the famous climb of Hautacam. From the start there was a big battle for the breakaway but Team Picnic PostNL’s main focus of the stage was to look after Oscar Onley and bring him into the climbs in the latter part of the day in the best possible shape.
A large group of 50 plus riders went clear, but the team remained calm and within the bunch, fetching bottles and keeping each other fuelled and cool in the hot temperatures. On the climb of Col du Soulor, the breakaway fell apart as the stronger climbers pushed on, while the same thing happened in the peloton which began to thin out. Onley had Frank van den Broek and Warren Barguil with him, until the tempo increased even further and there was only a reduced GC group of around 15 riders.
The pace slowed a little over the top of the ascent and some riders caught up on the descent, but that didn’t last long as heading on the valley roads an infernal tempo was set. This continued onto the lower slopes of the Hautacam; which almost resembled a sprint lead-out before Pogacar launched what would be his stage winning attack. Riding a measured climb, Onley ended up in a group of four but as they progressed up the ascent, things became cagey. Following an attack from Lipowitz, Onley managed to bridge to his wheel but the German kicked once more and Onley had to ride at his own tempo. Eventually joining up with Halland Johannessen, the duo rode to the line where they sprinted it out; with Onley taking a strong fifth place on the stage. It’s a result that moves him and Team Picnic PostNL up to sixth place on the GC.
Speaking after he had caught his breath, Onley said: “I feel pretty tired. It was hard all day but the guys looked after me as best they could. I felt good but maybe I just went a bit over my limit about halfway up, but it was still a pretty good day. It’s difficult when there are two guys there from the same team, so I had to try and get away from at least one of them if I could. I was quite surprised on the first climb when I saw a few others dropping, but I guess they probably suffered in the heat. I think the team managed that part pretty well for us today. If I can recover well then I’ll give it a good shot tomorrow in the TT.”
Team Picnic PostNL coach Matt Winston added: “The whole team tactic today was about looking after Oscar and the guys did a really nice job. We came onto the climb in good shape. He got everything out of himself on the Hautacam and couldn’t have done anymore. It became quite tactical and cagey at a point. Oscar followed Lipowitz and maybe went a bit into the red a bit there but when you’re 22-years-old doing your first Tour de France where you’re going as hard as you can every stage so far, then it was a really respectable performance. I think we can be really happy with the fifth place. We’re still in a good position on the GC which is nice at this stage of the race so we will see how tomorrow’s time trial goes. It was really warm again today so I think we maybe saw that have a bit of an effect today, and I’m sure a few of those guys who lost a bit of time today will bounce back in the coming stages.”