Scotland’s greatest-ever road cyclist has been watching this year’s Tour de France with interest and has, along with everyone else, been hugely impressed with the man who, it appears, has the potential to ultimately match that accolade and become Scotland’s best-ever himself.
Yesterday, Oscar Onley finished fourth in the general classification (GC) standings of the 2025 Tour de France.
It was an exceptional result from the 22-year-old from Kelso, and so extraordinary was his performance, it even impressed Scotland’s best-ever road racer, Philippa York.
Known as Robert Millar during her cycling career, York produced a string of world class results including, most notably, at the 1984 Tour de France, at which she won the King of the Mountains classification and finished in fourth place in the GC. Her stellar career means York is one of a select group of Scots who know just what it takes to contend in the general classification in any of the grand tours, and specifically the Tour de France.
York, riding as Millar, competed during one of the all-time great eras of the sport, with the riders of the calibre of Laurent Fignon, Bernard Hinault and Greg LeMond all grand tour contenders at that time.
And given her experience, she is well-qualified to recognise a truly great rider, which is exactly what she believes Onley can become. This has been highlighted by his 2025 season up until this point, and particularly his ride at the Tour de France over the past three weeks, which saw him in close contention for a GC podium place before ultimately finishing fourth behind only Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard and Florian Lipowitz in the standings.
“I have been watching Oscar's progress,” says York.
“He's made a step up this year in terms of results and I'm not surprised he's now performing at the highest level.
“I thought before the Tour this year that he was good enough for a top ten finish but he has really exceeded that by being comfortably in amongst the leaders’ group when required.”
Onley’s performance at this year’s Tour also saw him claim second in the young rider classification (behind Lipowitz) and his first-ever grand tour individual podium spot with third place on Stage 7. When added to his fourth place in the GC, this all bodes extremely well for the future, particularly given York's belief that there remains several aspects of his riding upon which he can improve.
“Thankfully, Oscar’s potential has been carefully nurtured by (his team) Picnic PostNL and now he's developing into a genuine Grand Tour contender,” says York.
“He will have learned a lot at this Tour de France, which will allow him to work on a few areas that he can improve upon including his time-trialling, for example. His time-trialling is not bad at the moment, but there's gains to be made in that area.
“But he'll continue to improve as he matures and gains experience.”
Onley’s performance over the past three weeks gives him an extremely solid platform upon which to build over coming seasons, particularly as he looks towards 2027 when the [[Tour de France]] comes to Scotland for the first time, with the Grand Depart leaving from Edinburgh.
York believes that not only will his performance at this year’s Tour work wonders for Onley’s self-belief but it will also be significant for Scottish cycling as a whole. 41 years after she finished fourth in the Tour de France, Scotland once again has a rider who is contending for GC honours in the greatest bike race in the world and that, believes York, is extremely important for the sport in this country.
“For Oscar personally, his performance at this year’s Tour will be a big boost in confidence,” she says.
“His place in the peloton, and the fact he’s now a team leader, earns him a massive amount of respect from other riders.
“And for Scotland, it's big deal to have a world-class rider involved in the most important races in the sport.
“Hopefully, this will inspire another generation of young cyclists to believe they can do something similar.”
