Oscar Onley's move to Netcompany Ineos has been far from simple, with the top GC talent being hit with several crashes and bouts of sickness ahead of, and during, the majority of his biggest goals. But his perseverance has seen him approach the final four stages of the Vuelta a España, with fifth overall and winning the Best Young Rider's jersey looking a likely possibility come the finale in Granada.
The Scot made a flying start to his time on his home British side, competing with the likes of Paul Seixas, Juan Ayuso, and João Almeida at the Volta ao Algarve in February, but from thereon in, it seemed like setback after setback for the 23-year-old.
In March, Illness forced him to pull out of Paris-Nice. A month later, a stomach bug saw him have to abandon the Tour de Romandie. A crash into a ravine at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes in June – which could have been much worse – then ended his Tour de France hopes due to a dislocated shoulder.
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After the middle of those three DNFs, Onley took to his Instagram to vent an honest assessment of the expectations he placed on himself as a star signing for Ineos: "Been a tough start to the season to be honest and hard not to feel like I've let a lot of people down after all the time and investment from everyone at Ineos Grenadiers," he said.
Having rebuilt to a position where he is now fifth in the Vuelta and four stages away from the second-best GC finish of his career in a GT, after his fourth place at last year's Tour, Onley feels he is finally back on track as hoped.
"I mean I'm happy to be back at just the level to compete again," he told Cyclingnews after stage 17 in Seville.
"Obviously it wasn't the ideal start to the year or the start with the team, and when you join a new team you obviously want to perform and kind of show why the team have invested in you. So it's been nice to be able to get back to a decent level and be competing again."
But this Vuelta, too, hasn't been without bumps in the road for Onley, getting hit with another stomach bug before the crucial climbing stage to Andorra, where he still performed well. He also came down in the crash that ruled then race leader Tadej Pogačar out of the Vuelta and the remainder of the 2026 season, before crashing again on a roundabout en route to Calar Alto, where he would drop away from the podium fight.
Still, though, Onley has soldered on again in the GC race, and is now heading for the final three days which will decide the overall. He's still unsure of exactly how his body will react, but the confidence is there to cap off a solid performance in Spain.
"I think I recovered well from my crash and a stomach bug in the first week, so I'm looking forward to it," said Onley. "It's hard to say how I'm going to feel, but in general I feel quite good just now."
There isn't an obvious possibility of him improving on his current overall position, set to start tomorrow's 32km time trial to Jerez 1:20 behind Richard Carapaz in fourth, and 3:34 away from the final podium spot currently occupied by Primož Roglič.
Onley could only admit that it wasn't his greatest strength as well, but he'll mostly be focused on defending his spot overall and lead in the BYR white jersey competition from stage 12 winner Jakob Omrzel in sixth, whom he will start with 30 seconds over on Thursday.
"I wouldn’t say I ever loved time trials, but that’s how I started cycling. It’s something I know quite well. I like the whole process of it; it’s just not my strongest area," said Onley after Wednesday's race.
"I don’t know very much about tomorrow’s course. I will do a recon in the morning; I just know it’s quite flat and it will be a lot of time in the position. Any time trial causes gaps in the GC, and obviously, with 32 kilometres, I think there can be some big gaps between riders."
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