Oscar Onley 🇬🇧

We don't know why we're less stoked about Oscar Onley than Max Poole, another rider who we've recently done a profile for. Maybe it's because of the trend line of Max Poole which seem more up and to the right then Onley? Still. Both are still incredibly young at only twenty years of age and can develop into strong GC contenders in their own right if they can work on their sprints and time trialing.

Onley made a name for himself last year in the CRO race in the fall - duking it out with Vingegaard on some tough mountain top finishes to claim 2nd twice during that Tour and beating other well known climbers.

Neither Poole nor Onley have ever won a race, and we imagine once they do, and that mental barrier has been shattered, they'll dramatically improve in leaps and bounds.

Strengths

Onley can climb, without a doubt, and on a good day can climb with the very best of them. But that's on a good day. Which are hit and miss. Onley took two second place finishes during the Alpes Isère Tour this year and has had a number of top five performances whenever there's a hill close to the finish line.

Onley is also able to make a break over a climb and hold it until the end on a good day, but pure rouleur based stages are not where he excels.

When to Bet

Onley, and to be fair Poole as well, are both inconsistent performers. It's tough to say when they'll perform well and when they won't. They also have trouble breaking into the top three and tend to hang around the fringes of fifth through tenth. Probably due to a lack of a strong sprint.

We'd give it until next season for them to fully develop into potential stage winners. For now they have an okay shot at GC if it's a dot one race and there's a bunch of mountainous terrain. Coming fifth every day consistently can definitely still get you on the podium, but it's not like you'll be able to get away with not making your bet an each way to be in the money.