Borders cyclist Oscar Onley making debut for new team Ineos Grenadiers this week
Borders cyclist Oscar Onley is to make his debut for new team Ineos Grenadiers this week following his big-bucks transfer to the English outfit the month before last.
The Kelso 23-year-old’s first race for the Manchester-based International Cycling Union world tour team since leaving the Netherlands’ Team Picnic PostNL is Portugal’s Volta ao Algarve, on from tomorrow, February 18, until Sunday.
He’s one of two new recruits making their first appearances for Grenadiers at the five-stage race from Vila Real de Santo Antonio to Malhao, the other being France’s Kevin Vauquelin.
Lining up alongside them in their team’s seven-strong roster, announced on Monday, are Holland’s Thymen Arensman, Belgium’s Laurens de Plus, Italy’s Filippo Ganna, Germany’s Kim Heiduk and Luxembourg’s Bob Jungels.
Unveiling their selection, a team spokesperson said: “We’re excited to get things started, with five riders kicking off their season, including two making their Grenadiers debuts.”
This week’s race in Portugal, now in its 52nd edition, is being contested by 24 teams, including Onley’s prior employers from 2023 to December last year.
Its first stage goes 114 miles to Tavira and its second 91 to Alto da Foia, followed by a 12-mile time-trial in Vilamoura on Friday.
Proceedings conclude with a 109-mile fourth stage from Albufeira to Lagos on Saturday and a 92-mile finale from Faro to Alto do Malhao on Sunday.
Onley’s new team last won the Portuguese race in 2023 via Colombia’s Daniel Martinez, now with their German-based rivals Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe, and his current boss, Grenadiers’ director of racing, Geraint Thomas, is a two-time winner, in 2015 and 2016, with Team Sky, as their current outfit was known at the time.
Welshman Thomas, 39, is lining up Onley to compete at two French races next in readiness for this year’s Tour de France in July – next month’s Paris-Nice event and June’s Tour Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes.
If Grenadiers proceed with that plan, this year’s Tour de France will be London-born Onley’s third, having ended up 39th in general classification in 2024 and fourth last year, and he’s especially hoping to contest 2027’s as well as it passes through his native Borders.
Looking ahead to the tour’s first visit to Scotland after signing up with Dave Brailsford’s Grenadiers, he said: “The chance to represent the team of my home country was one I couldn’t pass up.
“For me, as a Brit, this really is a dream move. I’ve been a fan of Ineos Grenadiers and their predecessors ever since I was a child.
“I grew up watching fellow countrymen Chris Froome, Bradley Wiggins and Geraint Thomas, now director of racing at Grenadiers, win the tour.
“I’m proud to be joining the Grenadiers on a long-term deal.
“It makes the prospect of racing for a British team when the Tour de France departs from Scotland in 2027 even more exciting.”