Oscar Onley Is Much More a Team Leader for Picnic PostNL Than Tom Dumoulin and Marcel Kittel Were
Youri IJnsen
Besides Florian Lipowitz, Kévin Vauquelin, and certainly Thymen Arensman as stage hunters, Oscar Onley is one of the revelations of this Tour de France 2025. The 22-year-old Scot has been regarded as a top talent for years, but he mostly flew under the radar until recent months. The Dutch team, Picnic PostNL, didn’t expect him to compete for a spot on the final podium in the Tour. Team manager Matt Winston and teammate Tim Naberman explain to WielerFlits and Cyclingflash.com why Onley is different from other former team leaders.
As a junior, the Scot came to France through the renowned Davy Rayner Foundation, joining the junior squad of AG2R La Mondiale. There he found himself in a team including Pierre Gautherat, Romain Grégoire, Jordan Labrosse, Axel Laurance, Enzo Paleni, Valentin Paret-Peintre, Hugo Toumire, and Bastien Tronchon. In his second year, the world was hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. Onley didn’t race a single event in 2020; within cycling, there were major concerns that this generation of riders might miss critical and formative years in their development due to COVID.
Onley was one of the juniors who therefore couldn’t showcase himself. “During the pandemic, I was contacted by Gary Coltman, a former colleague of mine at British Cycling,” Winston recounts how he was scouted. “Gary, who had become chairman of the Scottish Cycling Federation, told me I should take a look at Oscar. I then reached out to him, had an online conversation, and later the team reviewed Oscar’s power files. They were impressive. Not long after, we decided to give Oscar a chance in our development team.”
Oscar Onley| Year | Team |
|---|---|
| 2027 | |
| 2026 | |
| 2025 | |
| 2024 | |
| 2023 |
Winston thus followed the advice of the now 60-year-old Coltman, who was the bridge between the young Scot and the Dutch team. “The first contact with Oscar was a bit awkward due to the COVID period,” Winston recalls. “I distinctly remember reaching out to a quiet young guy. But you could tell from everything how driven he was and that he genuinely wanted to race. I felt he had the right mindset. He was also willing to listen and learn from those around him, which is a very important aspect.”
Onley then moved from Kelso to Sittard, where Picnic PostNL has apartments near the Tom Dumoulin Bike Park to accommodate riders. Mostly, talents live there. “We knew he could develop into a top talent. In the British system, we don’t race much in pelotons like you do in the Netherlands. Oscar still needed to sharpen his technique in those early years. In the 2022 Tour of Croatia, we saw him race at a high level for the first time when he went head-to-head with Jonas Vingegaard. That’s when we knew: this is going the right way, he is capable of even greater achievements. But, fortunately, he stayed under the radar until this year.”
Winner’s character traits
Teammate Tim Naberman has known the young Scot for five years. First one year in the development team and since 2023 in Picnic PostNL’s WorldTeam. “Haha, no. After five years together in Sittard, you can’t interview Oscar in Dutch,” laughs the all-rounder from Genemuiden. “He’s mainly a very calm guy. He definitely jokes around at the table; it’s always very fun with him. But when it comes to racing, he really tries to focus completely. Outside the race, he keeps himself as calm as possible. Overall, he’s a very relaxed guy I can easily work with. We also get along very well. Oscar is a friendly colleague.”
According to Naberman, he is a true cyclist. “He loves coffee,” laughs the 26-year-old rider from Overijssel. “In the Tour, Oscar was always busy in the mornings making his own coffee. He refuses to drink coffee from hotel machines. That’s why he loves coffee rides. In Andorra—where he lives—there is plenty of opportunity with all those cycling hotspots. He also enjoys going on walks there, that kind of activity. But other than that, he doesn’t have any extravagant hobbies, as far as I know.”
Onley ultimately finished fourth in the Tour and attracted a lot of worldwide attention. “I barely notice it affects him,” observes Naberman. “Oscar is also a guy who doesn’t care much about social media. The calmness he has outside racing is reflected in that too. He can ride amazing stages, then just go lie down and sleep at the back of the team bus. All the attention doesn’t impress him much. I think that’s why he performed so well over those three weeks. He can really shut out distractions.”
The Scot dreams of more in the future, and Picnic PostNL should support him in that. Naberman is fully on board. “Oscar fits in very well here. He was very inexperienced when he joined us. This team really knows how to develop young riders into the athletes they are now. That has been super important for him. Oscar needed that structure and was able to sink his teeth into it. From nutrition to technique, training on the bike. Also preparing for races together. These are the things that allow us all to race at this level.”
No fear of premature departure
Actually, Onley has been in form all season. He was already fourth in the Tour Down Under, fifth in the UAE Tour, and third in the Tour of Switzerland. But finishing fourth in the Tour is another level. “Oscar really matured quickly and has developed well in recent years,” Winston points out. “But in the last four weeks in particular, he has grown tremendously, especially in his leadership role. He has clearly communicated what he expects from his teammates, and Oscar expresses that very well. For us as staff, it’s wonderful to see this development.”
With Onley, the Dutch team finally seems to have a successor for Tom Dumoulin. However, his British team manager disagrees. “To be honest, those two don’t belong in the same category. Of course, both are good climbers who showed high potential at a young age. But they each have a completely different personality. As for Oscar: he has made great progress. He has a good head on his shoulders and isn’t distracted by what he achieved in the Tour de France. On the contrary: he’s hungry to keep growing.”
“He simply has a very bright future ahead of him,” says Winston. “But let’s not rush things now that he has secured this fourth place and put pressure on him. We as a team are very good at this, we’re not suddenly going to talk to him this winter about winning the Tour in 2026. For now, our focus with Oscar is on development. Yet we cannot ignore that—with the way Oscar rides this year—he could very well compete for the Tour victory in the future. Although the competition will be fierce.”
Winston points to Tadej Pogačar, Jonas Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel, and Isaac Del Toro. He’s not worried about Onley leaving (his contract runs until 2027)—like Dumoulin and also Marcel Kittel, Warren Barguil, and Marc Hirschi left in the past. Onley is a truly homegrown product of Picnic PostNL. “There is always a risk that teams start hunting riders, especially today’s landscape with wealthy teams able to buy out contracts. I hope Oscar sees the value in staying with Picnic PostNL. We had good conversations earlier this year about this.”
“He knows how we have developed him into the rider he is now and how we operate,” the Brit continues. “But I also see how much passion he has for Picnic PostNL as a team. How Oscar leads the team and that we take his ideas seriously. I’m convinced that we can work with Oscar very well for a long time and help him grow into a fantastic cyclist. He fits perfectly here. He has found his home. Of course, you never know how it will turn out with big money. But I hope this Tour has opened the eyes of talents.”
Onley duelled with Vingegaard in the 2022 CRO Race - photo: Cor Vos
Tour de France| Rank | Rider | Time | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | - | 76:00:32 | |
| 2 | - | + 04:24 | |
| 3 | - | + 11:00 | |
| 4 | - | + 12:12 | |
| 5 | - | + 17:12 | |
| 6 | - | + 20:14 | |
| 7 | - | + 22:35 | |
| 8 | - | + 25:30 | |
| 9 | - | + 28:02 | |
| 10 | - | + 32:42 |
Onley in the wheel tracks of Vingegaard and Pogacar - photo: Cor Vos
