That pressure, Smith believes, is the real story behind the move.<\/p>\n
\u201cPressure. Pressure\u2019s the word\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked to summarise his concern, Smith did not hesitate. \u201cPressure. Pressure\u2019s the word.\u201d<\/p>\n
He believes that is the single biggest difference between the environment Onley leaves and the one he now joins. \u201cAnd the big thing he\u2019ll have, which I don\u2019t think he would have had with Picnic, is the pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Picnic PostNL, Onley was allowed to grow into a leader. At INEOS, he arrives as part of a team that needs a leader immediately.<\/p>\n
The reality of the era he is stepping intoSmith framed the sporting challenge in the clearest possible terms. \u201cCan Oscar Onley<\/a> beat Pogacar, Vingegaard, and Evenepoel? That\u2019s the big question.\u201d<\/p>\n His answer is pragmatic rather than dismissive. \u201cI think he\u2019s better looking at a Giro or a Vuelta if he wants to win a grand tour for them.\u201d<\/p>\n That view aligns closely with Onley\u2019s own recent comments about the gap to the very top and the realistic routes to a first Grand Tour victory. The difference is that INEOS are defined by one race above all others. \u201cThere\u2019ll be huge pressure on him to deliver a big performance. Can he do it? I hope he does. But he\u2019s up against some anomalies in cycling, probably the best ever era of grand tour riders.\u201d<\/p>\n That line captures the balance in Smith\u2019s view. Support for the rider. Doubt about the circumstances.<\/p>\n Onley took a breakthrough 4th place at the 2025 Tour de France<\/p>\n A development curve interrupted<\/p>\n Onley\u2019s fourth place at the Tour de France did not come in isolation. It came after a season in which Picnic PostNL built their entire approach around him. Team roles, race programmes and tactics were designed to support his growth.<\/p>\n Smith believes that process was still underway.<\/p>\n In his eyes, the move to INEOS interrupts that curve. A rider still learning what he is capable of has stepped into a team where patience is not part of the vocabulary.<\/p>\n He is no longer the rider being protected. He is the rider expected to deliver.<\/p>\n The difference between potential and expectation<\/p>\n Smith\u2019s concern is not about whether Onley can one day win a Grand Tour. It is about whether this is the right moment, and the right place, for that journey to continue.<\/p>\n He does not doubt Onley\u2019s talent. He doubts the environment.<\/p>\n The shift from a \u201cfamily team\u201d to a \u201cwe have to deliver\u201d team is, in his view, the central risk. A rider who was allowed to grow now has to perform under the heaviest spotlight in British cycling.<\/p>\n And that is why, in the bluntest terms possible, Brian Smith<\/a> believes Oscar Onley<\/a> should have stayed exactly where he was.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The team he believes Onley should have stayed with Smith made it clear that, in his view,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":450138,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[184134,49,48,635,59639,133059,82,131890],"class_list":{"0":"post-450137","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-brian-smith","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-cycling","12":"tag-ineos-grenadiers","13":"tag-oscar-onley","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-transfers-negotiations"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=450137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/450138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=450137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=450137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=450137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Onley](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/onley-vingegaard-pogacar-688b80062ee5e.jpg@webp.webp\")
<\/p>\n