Resurgent Stephen Maguire tinkers his way to first title in five years
The 44-year-old came through the three group stages of the epic tournament, which started on June 30, before beating Joe O'Connor 3-1 in Wednesday night's final.
The Scot had to play 10 games to get his hands on the trophy, winning eight of them as he beat the likes of Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, Zhang Anda and Matthew Selt along the way to claiming the first title of the season.
O'Connor also had a fantastic event, winning all nine of his group stage matches to reach the final, but breaks of 85, 61 and 89 saw Maguire triumph.
It is Maguire's first ranking title since the 2020 Tour Championship and comes 21 years after his first at the 2004 European Open.
It has been a lean spell on the table for the world number two, although there were signs of life in the second half of last season as he reached the Welsh Open final after starting working with former pro Chris Small.
He was then hampered by back trouble, forced to pull out of the World Grand Prix and well beaten in World Championship qualifying by Gao Yang.
That issue appears to be behind him, though, and he pockets £33,000 for coming out on top at the Mattioli Arena.
'I'm just relieved, it's been a long month, I feel like I've been up and down the motorway all the time but it's a good reward at the end,' he said.
'Coming in today, there was two groups left, eight players. It felt more important than coming down the last couple of times because we knew somebody was going home with the trophy, there was going to be a winner and seven losers. To be the last man standing so early on in the season, I'm over the moon.
'It gives me a head start [in qualifying] for the Grand Prix and other tournaments, little bit of confidence. It's not the biggest tournament in the world but it's a ranking event so I'll take it.'
Maguire has been a rampant tinkerer with cues in recent years, at times feeling it has been to his detriment, but now sees it as a positive.
He won the event with a cue he has only been playing with for two weeks, the second piece of wood he used in this tournament alone.
'I'm keeping the cue,' he said. 'Thanks to [manufacturer] Ton Praram.
'I got the cue two weeks ago now, I've used two different cues in this event, so people who say you can't use different cues, they're full of nonsense, but I like this one.'
First Group Stage
3-0 Michael Holt3-0 Liam Graham
3-1 James Cahill
Second Group Stage
3-1 Zhang Anda3-1 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
2-2 Yuan Sijun
Third Group Stage
3-0 Matt Selt3-0 Ben Mertens
1-3 Pang Junxu
Final
3-1 Joe O'Connor
Speaking at the Crucible in 2022, after beating now world champion Zhao Xintong, Maguire bemoaned his relentless cue swapping.
'I've been struggling with cues for the last few years really. In tournaments I've played with about 30 cues over the last few years,' he said.
'It's terrible, and I think I've paid the price for it with my ranking.' More Trending
He kept on changing, though, saying in November last year after qualifying for the UK Championship: 'I'm always messing about with cues and I was messing about with far too many cues. I think I've used 10 cues this season in tournaments.
'I wasn't getting anywhere with it. I went to a qualifier in Sheffield and it's the worst I've ever played as a professional.'
The world number 27 has bounced back from that low, despite the continued tinkering, and will go into next month's Saudi Arabia Masters and Wuhan Open with renewed confidence.
Which cue he takes with him is yet to be seen.
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There's a few examples in the past three weeks that typify just how remarkable Onley's performance in this Tour has been. The first came in week one, on Stage 7, when Onley, riding for Team Picnic PostNL, grabbed a spot on the podium behind no less than the two best riders (by some margin) of contemporary road racing, Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard. For Onley's first Tour podium, he could not have been in more exalted company. The second came on Stage 16. The closing kilometres of the stage were up Mont Ventoux, which puts fear into even the most capable of riders. Despite Onley making his Tour de France debut last year - he finished a creditable 39th in his maiden Tour - he'd never ridden up the iconic Mont Ventoux with it being omitted from the 2024 race. So I was, I admit, somewhat concerned as to how he'd cope with a climb that has broken some of cycling's greats. There was, it turned out, nothing to worry about. 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A handful of Scottish men rode the Tour in the 1950s and 60s but it wasn't until the 1980s and Philippa York, who was known back then as Robert Millar, who really put road racing on the map in Scotland. York was crowned King of the Mountains in 1984, as well as finishing fourth in the GC that year. She rode the Tour several more times in the 1980s and into the 90s but never matched that fourth-place finish. David Millar won four Tour stages between 2000 and 2012, but by the end of three weeks of racing, never troubled the GC standings. And this year, Onley was joined by his compatriot, Sean Flynn, who also produced a creditable performance to finish well inside the top 150 in the GC. So York's fourth-place finish in the Tour's GC standings, a whopping 41 years ago, was, until today, the single best-ever result by a Scot. For Onley to have matched this at the age of only 22, and in only his second Tour, is truly mind-boggling. What the Kelso man has achieved over the past three weeks is not only a huge personal achievement, though, it also has far-reaching significance in terms of the impact it could potentially have on road racing in this country. In the space of only three weeks, Onley has single-handedly reminded people in this country that track cycling is not the only discipline on two wheels in which Scots can be successful. I'm not going quite so far as to suggest this one result will create a boom in cycling in this country, but the value of having a successful grand tour rider, and particularly a successful Tour de France rider, cannot be underestimated. It's not a given that Onley's career trajectory will be consistently upwards from here, but the early signs couldn't be more promising. The fact that the 2027 [[Tour de France]] will visit Scotland - the Grand Depart begins in Edinburgh - is perfect timing for both Onley and for the sport in this country. Only time will tell quite how effectively, and how quickly, Onley is able to build upon this year's Tour performance. But before looking towards the future, we should just enjoy what was a truly astonishing, and history-making, Scottish sporting performance.
