Onley eyes Tour podium 'in next couple of years'

Oscar Onley still feels "very far away" from winning the Tour de France despite last summer's historic fourth-placed finish but believes he is capable of making the podium "in the next couple of years".

The 23-year-old equalled the best result by a Scottish rider, previously achieved by Philippa York (then known as Robert Millar) in 1984.

In a wide-ranging interview on BBC Radio Scotland's The Saturday Show, Onley spoke about his breakthrough season, cycling's battle against performance-enhancing drugs, the prospect of the Tour starting in Edinburgh in 2027 and living a globetrotting professional sporting life from his base in Andorra.

It's been a steady progression by Onley since the London-born cyclist joined the Netherlands-based team, Team Picnic–PostNL, in 2023.

His first individual professional win came the following January in an uphill finish on stage five of the 2024 Tour Down Under, ultimately finishing fourth overall.

Onley, though, came into that year's Tour de France "just trying to go for stage results, which meant there is certain days when I would sit up and take it a bit easier".

That was with the knowledge that he was not in a position "to be fighting for a top-five finish overall".

That all changed last year.

"It really feels like it came quite quickly in the last few months before the Tour," he said.

"Everything started to click into place and so I was starting to gain a lot more confidence in myself as well."

While he was initially targeting stage wins in his second Tour de France, with the general classification being a secondary aim, it soon became clear that a podium finish was a possibility.

Onley would finish just over a minute behind third-placed Florian Lipowitz of Germany. Denmark's Jonas Vingegaard was eight minutes in front in second, while winner, Tadej Pogacar of Slovenia, was 12 minutes better off.

"I still feel very far away," the Scot said as he looked forward to the coming season. "To the front two, there is a big gap from the rest of us, but I definitely feel that, in the next couple of years, a podium finish is definitely possible if things go the right way for me.

"And there's also two other Grand Tours in Italy and Spain where sometimes the competition's slightly less deep. If it goes the right way, then why can't I try to win one of those?"

It is no surprise Onley is especially dreaming of success in 2027, when the Tour de France will start in Edinburgh.

"It is something I'm really looking forward to," he said. "I think the UK and Scotland really put on a good show whenever big events come to the country, such as the Commonwealth Games or the road world cycling championships in Glasgow a couple of years ago.

"I have not been able to experience something like this in Scotland yet, but I really hope I can be there next year on the start line in Edinburgh and take everything in and to see friends and family there will be quite special."

Performance-enhancing drugs in cycling hit the headlines with the banning of Lance Armstrong in 2012 and remains a hot topic despite fewer cases in recent years.

"I can't speak for other sports, but I know how much we get tested and how much I personally get tested as well throughout the year and throughout the tour," Onley said.

The Scot has "a lot of trust" in the systems in place trying "to keep the sport clean" and ensure a level playing field.

"I believe the sport's come a long way in the past 10-15 years," Onley said. "I also don't believe it's completely clean.

"I think it's quite naive to think it's clean throughout the whole world, but I think it's in a better place than it was before I started cycling.

"It's not much I think about. I can only compete with who I am up against. I am not riding along thinking, 'this guy might be getting an advantage over me'. It's not really the thought process I or many other riders have.

"You have just got to focus on yourself and trust that everyone else is playing by the rule book. With the guidelines we have, I think it is very hard to cheat nowadays."

Onley was speaking while preparing for the new season in Andorra, where he lives in the mountains between France and Spain.

"There is a big culture of professional cyclists up there and I have a lot of friends who live close by and we can always go out training together or do other things," he explained.

"It's quite peaceful and it's a nice place to come back to in between races."

Among those fellow cyclists, recently retired Welsh Commonwealth Games gold medallist and 2018 Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas "is someone I always looked up to".

"The way he can focus on a certain goal every year he's been professional," he said. "In the last few years racing beside him has been quite inspiring."

Brought up in Kelso, Onley also admits that, amid his globetrotting lifestyle, the biggest thing he misses about Scotland is a certain brand of fruit squash.

Having come a long way since what remains his favourite bike ride, along the Lammermuir Hills between the Borders town and Edinburgh, maybe this will be the year when the champagne of success will be flowing.