{"id":380156,"date":"2025-12-30T09:54:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T09:54:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/380156\/"},"modified":"2025-12-30T09:54:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T09:54:12","slug":"the-unassuming-king-of-scotland-the-year-oscar-onley-announced-himself-to-the-world-as-britains-next-gc-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/380156\/","title":{"rendered":"The unassuming king of Scotland: the year Oscar Onley announced himself to the world as Britain’s next GC star"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oscar Onley<\/a>, Britain\u2019s new GC darling, recently revealed that he no longer has a bike at his family home in Scotland. Whenever he\u2019s back in Kelso, the town where the 23-year-old grew up, he\u2019s there to \u201creally, really relax\u201d and to take a break from cycling. But that doesn\u2019t mean he can get away with not paying subs at his local club. If he bumps into anyone from Kelso Wheelers, he\u2019d better make sure he\u2019s got his excuses ready \u2013 or a few bank notes in his wallet.<\/p>\n

\u201cOscar\u2019s mum Sharon is our club secretary, and she usually pays his club membership,” Kelso Wheelers chairman Robert Ure tells CW. \u201cI\u2019d need to have a look, but I don\u2019t think he\u2019s paid his membership for this year. I\u2019m going to have to send him an arrears letter unless he pays his 20 quid,\u201d Ure laughs, joking that the outstanding debt could follow Onley around long after he\u2019s hung up his professional racing wheels.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he comes down once he\u2019s finished and retired and still hasn\u2019t paid his membership, there\u2019ll be serious words with him! We will have to backdate the payments.\u201d<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

All of which is said in the best possible spirit, of course. Regardless of Onley\u2019s technical membership status, his childhood cycling club \u2013 and the whole of the Scottish Borders \u2013 are immensely proud of him. This year, in just his second appearance at the Tour de France<\/a>, he finished fourth<\/a>, 72 seconds shy of a spot on the podium.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Oscar\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

As a result, Onley was one of the most in-demand riders in July, winning a legion of new supporters after keeping pace for long stretches with runaway leader Tadej Poga\u010dar<\/a> and his arch rival Jonas Vingegaard<\/a>. \u2018Onley Fans\u2019 \u2013 a brilliant pun on the adults-only website OnlyFans \u2013 became a favoured placard slogan during the Tour, while as a hashtag #OnleyFans it went viral on Instagram, TikTok and X.<\/p>\n

But attention and the spotlight don\u2019t come naturally to Onley \u2013 though affable and polite, he is reserved and softly spoken. A bit like Vingegaard, he appears to be something of a reluctant superstar.<\/p>\n

Adjusting to stardom<\/p>\n

Onley\u2019s finishing only a minute off the podium of the biggest race of all might not have been predicted, but it wasn\u2019t entirely surprising. Ever since he turned pro with what was then Team DSM, the Scot has promised big things. In fact, he first signposted his enormous talent when he was still technically riding for DSM\u2019s development team, finishing just behind reigning Tour de France winner Vingegaard at the 2022 CRO Race.<\/a><\/p>\n

The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!<\/p>\n

Over the following two years, he took his first WorldTour victory, a stage at the 2024 Tour Down Under<\/a>, was an active presence in breakaways during his maiden Tour, and finished second at both the Tours of Britain and Guangxi.<\/p>\n

2025 saw an even steeper progression. Second on the queen stages of both the Tour Down Under and UAE Tour in the early part of the year, and in June he won a stage of the Tour de Suisse<\/a>, finishing third on GC. Come the Tour de France, publicly Onley and his team said he was targeting stages, but consistently high placings during the first week\u2019s Classic-like stages were followed up by impressive performances in the Pyrenees and Alps. He was a very deserving fourth-placed finisher.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Oscar\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: SWpix.com\/Zac Williams)<\/p>\n

Only last winter, Onley told CW that Picnic-PostNL were working on the assumption that their leading GC prospect, at least in Grand Tours, was Max Poole<\/a>. \u201cHe\u2019s got the one up on me on the longer climbs and in time trialling,\u201d said Onley, \u201c[which] means Grand Tours suit Max better, and that\u2019s how the team have been seeing it as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

Poole might still prove that assertion correct, given time, but Onley\u2019s performance in July disproved any doubts about his own capabilities. Back then, he had seemed unsure about converting his improving results into Grand Tour success. \u201cThat\u2019s another step, and to be honest I don\u2019t know if I am capable of it yet.\u201d His legs soon replied: yes, he was, and is.<\/p>\n

Onley acknowledges that he is naturally self-deprecating \u2013 unlike the sport\u2019s extroverts such as, say, Poga\u010dar. Could it be a particularly Scottish trait, this keeping his head down and quietly working hard?<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say the main characteristics of people from where I\u2019m from are that we\u2019re willing to work hard,\u201d he told Rouleur post-Tour. \u201cSome people want things, they\u2019re demanding, [but] I\u2019m happy to go with whatever is happening. I think that\u2019s natural coming from where I come from, we\u2019re not big show people or anything. We\u2019re down-to-earth people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Emily Brammeier, the head of communications at Picnic-PostNL, confirms that the team saw a leap in media requests for Onley post-Tour. He hasn\u2019t minded the attention \u2013 it would be wrong to depict him as media-averse or painfully shy; he is not. The team has been careful to limit his media obligations to a comfortable level.<\/p>\n

Everyone who knows Onley seems to repeat similar sentiments: he is simply a young, decent, hard-working lad from the Borders \u2013 certainly not someone who craves the limelight.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Oscar\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: SWpix.com\/Zac Williams)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe tried to manage the story before and during the Tour so as not to put him on too much of a pedestal,\u201d Brammeier says. \u201cSince the Tour it\u2019s also been important to give him a break and to wind down from it all. It\u2019s always a balance: a rider only has so much energy per day, and the priority is riding a bike.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey also need to find time for tactical discussions, time to call home and to be themselves, and time for the media and commercial activities. A lot of what we do is based on feeling, and working with riders to make sure they get the best out of themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Local hero<\/p>\n

Ever-present at the roadside during the Tour were Onley\u2019s mum and dad, Sharon and Steve. Back home in the Borders, the entire region was claiming him \u2013 the quiet young cycling lad was front and centre of many people\u2019s minds.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole town and Borders were rooting for him,\u201d Ure confirms. \u201cHe rode in the Border Trophy for Kelso, so everyone knows Oscar, and everyone feels proud of him, because we\u2019ve all ridden with him.\u201d His stepping away to the big league matters not.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlright, he probably wouldn\u2019t ride with us on a Sunday right now, for his own sanity, but we all feel a connection with him,\u201d Ure continues. \u201cOne club member is forever updating our Facebook page with what Oscar\u2019s doing \u2013 and seems to know what he\u2019s up to before his parents!\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\"Oscar\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The unpaid subs are more than compensated for by the avalanche of positive publicity. \u201cIt\u2019s just fantastic what he\u2019s doing, and fantastic publicity for the club,\u201d Ure says. \u201cLet\u2019s be honest, no one had a clue who the Kelso Wheelers were until Oscar came along. The club will dine out on the fact that we had a Tour contender for the next 50 years \u2013 a top-five finisher, too. And it was this same young lad who used to sit on my wheel for 100 miles and then jump me in a sprint!\u201d<\/p>\n

As Onley adapts to his newfound fame as one of the sport\u2019s leading GC lights, it\u2019s Ure who is absorbing some of the media attention. \u201cI never thought I\u2019d see the day when I\u2019d get journalist fatigue,\u201d he laughs. \u201cI\u201dve been on the radio, in the papers. Everyone goes on about having 15 minutes of fame, but it\u2019s not my fame \u2013 it\u2019s someone else\u2019s!\u201d<\/p>\n

When Onley eventually returns to Kelso and meets his clubmates, they\u2019ll have a celebration for him \u2013 whether he likes it or not.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we will do as a club, without a doubt, is honour and commemorate him for being a member and going on to great things,\u201d Ure pledges. \u201cWe will have a sportive in his name. A few members were on about it before the Tour, and I always said he has to do something first. His mother agreed, saying, \u2018Oh God, don\u2019t do anything like that, as he\u2019s not done anything yet.\u2019 But then he finished fourth in the Tour.\u201d<\/p>\n

This feature originally appeared in Cycling Weekly magazine on 18 December 2025. Subscribe now<\/a> and never miss an issue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oscar Onley, Britain\u2019s new GC darling, recently revealed that he no longer has a bike at his family…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":380157,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-380156","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-cycling","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=380156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/380157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=380156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=380156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=380156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}