Second Tour de France coming up for Kelso cyclist Oscar Onley

The Kelso 22-year-old is part of an eight-strong roster of riders also featuring fellow Scot Sean Flynn, Denmark’s Tobias Lund Andresen, France’s Warren Barguil, Czechia’s Pavel Bittner, Germany’s Niklas Markl and the Netherlands’ Frank van den Broek and Tim Naberman.

Announcing his selection, coach Matt Winston said: “We head to the Tour de France with some great memories from last year’s campaign.

“We have a squad that have shown in recent races that they are performing well together as a group and picking up some really solid results along the way, so we start the race with confidence. Our main goal for the race will be to hunt for stage success.

“Oscar showed recently at the Tour de Suisse that he is in great shape, with some top results, so he will be one of our main finishing cards to play for the hilly and mountainous days.

“For those more rolling and intermediate type stages, Warren and Frank came out of Tour de Suisse in good shape too, so they provide us options there.

“In the faster finales, we have two good options in both Tobias and Pavel, who with the support we have here, can be in the mix on different types of stages.

“Overall, we will take each stage as it comes and look for the opportunities that might suit us best over the course of the three weeks.”

Onley’s selection follows his third-placed finish in general classification at June’s Tour of Switzerland, winning one stage and also finishing second twice and third twice.

Looking back at that stage win, only his second after one in Australia’s Tour Down Under in January 2024, he said: “I don’t win often and have had quite a few podiums or close results this year, so to pull it off was really nice for myself and also for the team and my teammates too. They do a really good job every day, so it’s nice to be able to pay them back.”

This year’s Tour de France is Onley’s second after finishing 39th in general classification and as tenth young rider in 2024’s.

“If I’m realistic, there are 21 stages and 170-odd riders all trying to go for stage wins, so obviously that is a goal, but if I can say at the end of the tour that I gave it everything and still come away without a stage win, I won’t be happy but I won’t be disappointed,” the former Kelso Wheelers member told the Times this week.

“I know how much bigger and just how much harder the tour is than the Tour de Suisse or any other race you do in the year really.

“I’m not going in expecting to be fighting for top five in general classification. I’m quite realistic.

“I’m confident in the shape I have now and everything I’ve done so far this year.”