Borderer Oscar Onley about to make debut in cycling’s Tour de France

The three-week tour starts in Rimini in Italy on Saturday and ends with a time-trial from Monaco to Nice.

That will be the first time the near-121-year-old tour has concluded with a time trial since 1989 and its first finish outwith Paris in over 100 years.

Onley is the only Scot in his Netherlands-based team’s eight-strong squad and the tour’s 111th edition will be his first.

The 21-year-old’s selection follows his comeback at this month’s Tour de Suisse from a third collarbone fracture in the space of eight months.

Those injuries were sustained at his grand tour debut at la Vuelta a Espana last August, in January and at the Netherlands’ Amstel Gold Race in April.

Accompanying the former Kelso Wheelers member as he seeks to add to his first professional win during Australia’s Tour Down Under in January will be Romain Bardet, Warren Barguil, John Degenlolb, Nils Eekhoff, Fabio Jakobsen, Frank van den Broek and Bram Welten.

Their coach Matt Winston said: “We’re looking forward to being on the start-line of the Tour de France once again.

“This year we go in with the sole focus of going for day results, whether that be in the sprint finishes, in the mountains or on the rolling terrain in between.

“We have an exciting group of riders who are all committed to that, but we will need to be smart about when and where we use our energy to maximise our chances.

“In the pure sprints, we will go with Fabio as our finisher, with John, Bram and Nils as his final lead-out.

“In the hills and mountains, we have the likes of Romain, Warren, Frank and Oscar, the latter two making their Tour de France debuts.

“We believe everyone in the team can play a role in the finale on the right stage and in the right circumstances.

“We will need to show good teamwork from the off as we can expect a hard start on the climbs in Italy before some sprint opportunities after that.

“From that point, there is a variety of parcours and terrain over the three weeks where we can be in the mix.

“We will work together as a team and make plans for the best possible way to approach each stage so that we can show ourselves at the very front of the race.”