Latest news with #PicnicPostNL
Straits Times
5 days ago
- Sport
- Straits Times
Bardet makes brief Tour appearance as water carrier
Find out what's new on ST website and app. MONT-DORE - A month after hanging up his wheels, former Tour de France podium finisher Romain Bardet found himself back at the race on Monday – but this time on the roadside, handing out water bottles to former teammates during Stage 10. The 34-year-old Frenchman, once hailed as the great home hope and a perennial team leader at the Tour, made a surprise appearance in the Massif Central, the region he calls home. Where he once attacked on mountain passes, Bardet was instead offering bidons to Picnic PostNL riders – a quiet, symbolic role-reversal that was not lost on fans or the peloton. Bardet retired last month following the Criterium du Dauphine, ending a career that included two Tour podiums, in 2016 and 2017, and four stage victories on the world's biggest race. While his days of leading GC battles are over, Bardet's brief stint as a water carrier showed he is still very much part of the cycling family. REUTERS
CNA
5 days ago
- Sport
- CNA
Bardet makes brief Tour appearance as water carrier
MONT-DORE :A month after hanging up his wheels, former Tour de France podium finisher Romain Bardet found himself back at the race on Monday – but this time on the roadside, handing out water bottles to former teammates during Stage 10. The 34-year-old Frenchman, once hailed as the great home hope and a perennial team leader at the Tour, made a surprise appearance in the Massif Central, the region he calls home. Where he once attacked on mountain passes, Bardet was instead offering bidons to Picnic PostNL riders – a quiet, symbolic role-reversal that was not lost on fans or the peloton. Bardet retired last month following the Criterium du Dauphine, ending a career that included two Tour podiums, in 2016 and 2017, and four stage victories on the world's biggest race. While his days of leading GC battles are over, Bardet's brief stint as a water carrier showed he is still very much part of the cycling family.
BBC News
10-07-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
The Scot rubbing shoulders with greats at Tour de France
Oscar Onley set himself the lofty ambition of winning a stage at just his second Tour de five stages in to the three-week epic, and the 22-year-old Scot has come sixth and fourth, rubbing shoulders with not just the world's best cyclists but some of the greatest ever to race."Some of my team-mates and staff say to me you are one of these guys," Onley told ITV before stage four. "I don't really see it like that yet."By the end of the 174km run into Rouen on Tuesday, he had come in just behind defending Tour king Tadej Pogacar, former world champion Mathieu van der Poel, and two-time yellow jersey winner Jonas be involved in such company was a magnificent achievement, particularly given the toughness of the racing across lumpy fact it followed a similar performance on stage two on the ramp up to the line in Boulogne-sur-Mer made it even more there has been no victory yet, Onley has competed with the best in an unexpected way."It's pretty cool - it doesn't get much bigger in terms of races and competitors," Onley said. "It's nice to prove to myself I can be there right at the top." Onley's rise to top Those who follow cycling closely will know of Onley's steady progress since taking to the senior ranks in 2023 with his Dutch team, Picnic his journey started in the Scottish Borders, when local club Kelso Wheelers' time trial route passed right by his front door and he got juggled lots of sports as a kid, particularly cross-country running, before committing to the described himself as "never the best" as a youngster, but as he grew physically his results picked big breakthrough came at the Tour Down Under in 2024 when he won on the finish up Willunga Hill for his first professional Scot then managed second at the Tour of Britain. Amid all that he had to deal with two broken collarbones due to year he has bounced back, and last month climbed on to the podium at the Tour de Suisse, winning stage five in the in the rolling hills of the south of Scotland, Onley is most at home when the road gradient makes the legs strain and is based in the high mountains of the big behemoth mountain ranges, the Alps and Pyrenees, still to come there is opportunity to make a bright start to the Tour de France truly memorable. How far can Onley go? Onley, a calm and unflustered character when interviewed, and his team say they have not changed the goal for the race. The main target is to win a stage, rather than go for a top-10 finish as an end in itself. Feet remain firmly on the ground, or rather the over three weeks in the biggest race of them all is a different beast from the one-week races in which Onley has shown he can compete at the top of the general he has form in his legs and a fearlessness needed amidst the madness of the long-term goal is to be a serious contender to win the Grand Tours, whether in France, Italy or Spain."That's the pinnacle, really," Onley said. "It's a plan we have as a team. "Just now, it's difficult to say how far I can take that, because I've never tried it before. That's the goal, though."In the short term, Onley will aim to keep making a name for himself on the biggest stage in cycling.
Daily Tribune
20-06-2025
- Sport
- Daily Tribune
Onley pips Almeida to Tour of Switzerland fifth stage win
Scottish rider Oscar Onley won the fifth stage of the Tour of Switzerland yesterday by a tyre's length from Joao Almeida after an uphill sprint. The 22-year- old Onley claimed the second major win of his career at the end of a mountainous 183.5km from La Punt to Sant Maria with a head-to-head battle to the line. 'I felt good, and just gave it a go on the last climb,' Onley said. 'I don't win often and I've had a quite a few podiums so far this year, or quite close results, so to pull it off today is really nice for myself and my teammates, because they do a really good job every day, today was no different. 'It's nice to be able to pay them back now and a again,' he added. Austrian Felix Gall was third 23 seconds behind the Picnic PostNL youngster. Frenchman Kevin Vauquelin took the overall lead from compatriot Romain Gregoire, who struggled and finished more than six minutes behind Onley. Two-time former world champion Julian Alaphilippe moved to second, 29 seconds behind Vauquelin with Portuguese rider Almeida third and Onley fourth. It was an emotional day of racing held in memory of Gino Maeder, a 26-year-old Swiss rider who died of his injuries following a high-speed crash on a descent on the 2023 Tour of Switzerland.
Times
19-06-2025
- Sport
- Times
Oscar Onley shows credentials by beating Tadej Pogacar's lieutenant to line
With just over two weeks until the Tour de France, Britain's 22-year-old Oscar Onley has set out his stall by winning stage five of the Tour de Suisse in a photo-finish sprint ahead of João Almeida after a brutal day in the mountains between La Punt and Santa Maria in Calanca. It is the man from Kelso's second professional win (after he took a stage of the Tour Down Under in 2024) and the strong performance sets him in good stead before La Grande Boucle, starting on July 5, where he will be a key general classification (GC) rider for his team Picnic PostNL. Not only did he beat Almeida, Tadej Pogacar's key UAE Team Emirates XRG lieutenant, on the queen stage of the race, he also finished ahead of seasoned Tour de France riders such as Ben O'Connor (Jayco AlUla) and Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor). The victory proved the young man's credentials as a climber as he moved up the GC to fourth place, 1min 21sec behind the race leader Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels).
