Scottish cycling sensation, 22, stuns the world's top cyclists as he eyes Scotland's best EVER Tour de France finish
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SCOTTISH cycling sensation Oscar Onley remains on course to equal Scotland's best EVER Tour de France finish after a gruelling stage to Mont Ventoux.
Onley may have been born in London but he was raised from a young age in the town of Kelso, identifies as Scottish and came through the Scottish system.
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Oscar Onley (right) tracks Florian Lipowitz of Germany
Credit: Getty
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Oscar Onley of Team Picnic PostNL before the 16th stage of the Tour de France
Credit: EPA
A natural climber, he finished a creditable 39th as he was selected for his first Tour de France 12 months ago.
And he's still sitting in a remarkable FOURTH spot in the toughest bike race in the world with just FIVE stages to withstand after one of the toughest climbs in cycling.
He came in 14th on the sheer slopes of Ventoux, some 2 minutes 29 back on stage winner Valentin Paret Peintre.
But that was still enough for him to limit his losses on former yellow jersey winner Primoz Roglic in fifth spot to just 38 seconds.
And that means he survives in fourth with just four days and then the traditional procession to the Champs Elysees in Paris on the final day to come.
No Scottish rider has ever secured a podium spot for one of the 1-2-3 in the General Classification on the Tour.
Robert Millar, now known as Philippa York, finished fourth back in 1984, in addition to picking up the polka dot jersey for the top mountain climber on the tour that year.
Onley is 11 minutes and four seconds behind imperious Slovenian leader Tadej Pogacar, who looks set to claim a FOURTH yellow jersey.
But with a couple of big days in the Alps still to come he's still got hope of finding the two minutes he needs to overtake Germany's Florian Lipowitz to get third.
He's also chasing Lipowitz in the race for the white jersey, the privilege of the best young rider in the race.
Mark Cavendish & The Royals help celebrate Edinburgh hosting the Tour de France in 2027
Amazingly Onley actually could have had a career as an elite cross-country runner instead and only started riding a bike after being inspired to start cycling by the fact that the time-trial route for his local club, Kelso Wheelers, went right past his house.
He raced in Europe as a junior before joining the development team of his current squad, Picnic PostNL, in 2021.
The Tour de France is coming to Edinburgh in 2027 and he's previously spoken of his delight and hope to be on the start line.
He said: 'The Tour de France coming to Scotland is really exciting and can have a huge impact on inspiring people to get on bikes and potentially start a new wave of talent coming out of Scotland.
"Scotland has hosted the Tour of Britain a few times over the past years and always puts on a good show, Le Tour offers a great opportunity to showcase the country on a bigger scale."
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