{"id":752513,"date":"2026-08-28T13:20:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T13:20:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/752513\/"},"modified":"2026-08-28T13:20:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T13:20:14","slug":"i-was-pretty-useless-oscar-onley-overcooks-gravel-climb-at-vuelta-a-espana-and-pays-the-price","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/752513\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I was pretty useless’ \u2013 Oscar Onley ‘overcooks’ gravel climb at Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a and pays the price"},"content":{"rendered":"

After coming through the opening mountain stage strongly in spite of a stomach illness<\/a>, Oscar Onley (Netcompany-Ineos) suffered a setback in his bid for the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a<\/a> podium on Thursday as he conceded time on the action-packed finale to stage 6<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The British rider was initially with the best of the rest of the GC contenders when race leader Tadel Poga\u010dar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) attacked on the final climb, but he came unstuck in a big way on the gravel section towards the top.<\/p>\n

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Onley, who was initially with Primo\u017e Rogli\u010d (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Enric Mas (Movistar) as they gapped key rival Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM), dropped back towards the top and then lost more ground on the descent.<\/p>\n

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After linking up with a group of stragglers that included Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) for the flat 10km run-in, he crossed the line in 12th place, conceding 1:28 to Poga\u010dar and Mas, and 52 seconds to Rogli\u010d, Gall, and Carapaz.<\/p>\n

“It was pretty hard. The gravel went on for longer than I thought it would. I probably just overcooked a little bit and paid the price towards the top I think,” Onley said.<\/p>\n

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“I just took the descent at my own pace. To be honest, I didn\u2019t want to be alone for the headwinds to the finish, so when I saw Skjelmose and Kuss\u2019s group coming up to me I was quite relieved. I tried to pull with them and then I just started getting cramps, so I was pretty useless.”<\/p>\n

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\"CASTELLO,\n<\/p>\n

Onley (right) crosses the line with Sepp Kuss (Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Having started the day fifth overall, Onley now drops to seventh, some 5:37 behind Poga\u010dar but 2:03 behind the true reference point for the rest of the GC contenders which is the second place now occupied by Mas. Onley is 1:16 off the podium itself, with Rogli\u010d sitting in third place.<\/p>\n

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Onley, 23 years old, retained the white jersey of best young rider by just three seconds as breakaway rider Rasmes Debruyne (Alpecin-Premier Tech) clung on to gain time, but the Belgian is not expected to mount a sustained GC bid.<\/p>\n

Onley’s next closest rival for that white jersey, Jarno Widar (Lotto-Intermarch\u00e9) fared even worse on the stage, losing a further two minutes.<\/p>\n

“He is a strong rider. But there\u2019s still over two weeks to go, so I don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to be a matter of three seconds between any of us by the end,” Onley said of Debruyne.<\/p>\n

“I think we\u2019re the same age. I remember racing him as a junior. We were in the break together in the Dauphin\u00e9, I think he went second on the stage. I know he\u2019s a strong rider, and the way he rode today is obviously impressive.”<\/p>\n

For unbeatable coverage across road, gravel and tech, subscribe to Cyclingnews. You’ll get comprehensive race coverage of La Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a, subscriber-exclusive analysis from our expert columnists, in-depth features and industry-leading tech insight. Plus, the Cyclingnews app lets you follow the action wherever you go! Join today.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After coming through the opening mountain stage strongly in spite of a stomach illness, Oscar Onley (Netcompany-Ineos) suffered…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":752514,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-752513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/752513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=752513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/752513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/752514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=752513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=752513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=752513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}