Team Picnic PostNL and Oscar Onley battle up Mûr-de-Bretagne to brilliant 3rd place

Friday’s racing saw the Tour de France peloton return to Bretagne roads, with local hero Warren Barguil given a rapturous reception at the sign-on in Saint-Malo. Ahead of the bunch was a 197 kilometre route that finished with two ascents of the famous Mûr-de-Bretagne, and from the flag drop it was an intense start. Multiple teams and riders looked to make the breakaway, so the attacks continued to pepper the front of the race. Team Picnic PostNL looked to mark out those moves, with ambitions of positioning Oscar Onley to go for it in the finale from the peloton. The team did a brilliant job at that with Sean Flynn and Tim Naberman particularly active in doing that.

In the end a five rider group went clear and the peloton began to set tempo behind them, ensuring the gap didn’t grow out too far. Coming into the last 30 kilometres the break was only one minute ahead, while the team’s sprint group of Niklas Märkl, Tobias Lund Andresen and Pavel Bittner did a great job to keep the rest of the team well towards the front of the peloton, as the fight for position was on.

Over the first ascent of the Mûr-de-Bretagne, Frank van den Broek and Barguil made it over alongside Onley in a reduced peloton of around 40 riders; keeping Onley safe. Unfortunately on the descent there was a crash which saw Barguil go down, but he was able to remount his bike and continue to the end of the stage – where he required stitches.

Back in the drastically reduced yellow jersey group, Van den Broek guided Onley through the finale and dropped him off on a good wheel going into the last three kilometres and the final ascent to the line. A fierce pace was set from the bottom and the group was strung out immediately, braking apart in several places. The trio of Pogacar, Vingegaard and Evenepoel pushed on and opened up a gap but Onley rode at his own pace in a group just behind and over the steepest sections they came back to the front of the race.

From there, things were set-up in a lead-out for a very lactate-filled sprint from nine riders; with Onley giving everything to the line to take an exceptional third place finish – his first ever stage podium at the Tour de France. A well-deserved result for not only Onley but the whole team, with every Team Picnic PostNL rider playing their part in the final result come the end of the stage. With some riders going down in the crash and gaps in the final, Onley and Team Picnic PostNL also move up to seventh on GC in the race.

Speaking at the finish Onley said: “The guys and team once again did a super job to protect me and look after me throughout the stage. It meant I could just focus on the final as much as possible and not have to worry about anything else; and they positioned me for the first time up the Mûr perfectly. I wouldn’t say I was thinking too much tactically on that final climb, but when you have the legs it’s easier to make the right decisions when you’re on the limit. It was cagey for the first three, but behind I think everyone was on their limit from the start of it as it was a really strong pace into the bottom of the climb. It was just all-out sprint to the line in the end and we can be pleased with the third place. Of course to get a win would be nice, but there’s a long way to go in this Tour de France.”

Team Picnic PostNL coach Matt Winston continued: “The team did a really good job to look after Oscar throughout the day. Then you could see on the TV images how they were working hard on the front to keep him in position and bring him into the closing lap in good shape. On the last climb Oscar could show again just how strong he was. It was a really nice third place after some great teamwork, and something we can continue to build on. The only downside for us today was Warren’s crash, which was a shame, especially after he did a really nice job today looking after Oscar.”