It’s been a steady progression by Onley since the London-born cyclist joined the Netherlands-based team, Team Picnic–PostNL, in 2023.
His first individual professional win came the following January in an uphill finish on stage five of the 2024 Tour Down Under, ultimately finishing fourth overall.
Onley, though, came into that year’s Tour de France “just trying to go for stage results, which meant there is certain days when I would sit up and take it a bit easier”.
That was with the knowledge that he was not in a position “to be fighting for a top-five finish overall”.
That all changed last year.
“It really feels like it came quite quickly in the last few months before the Tour,” he said.
“Everything started to click into place and so I was starting to gain a lot more confidence in myself as well.”
While he was initially targeting stage wins in his second Tour de France, with the general classification being a secondary aim, it soon became clear that a podium finish was a possibility.
Onley would finish just over a minute behind third-placed Florian Lipowitz of Germany. Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard was eight minutes in front in second, while winner, Tadej Pogacar of Slovenia, was 12 minutes better off.
“I still feel very far away,” the Scot said as he looked forward to the coming season. “To the front two, there is a big gap from the rest of us, but I definitely feel that, in the next couple of years, a podium finish is definitely possible if things go the right way for me.
“And there’s also two other Grand Tours in Italy and Spain where sometimes the competition’s slightly less deep. If it goes the right way, then why can’t I try to win one of those?”