Despite clambering out of a ravine to ride up the final climb on stage 6, Oscar Onley has abandoned the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, deciding not to start stage 7 as he heads for medical checks.
The Netcompany-Ineos rider, third overall at the start of the day, was not accounted for on Friday’s final climb and, after Matteo Jorgenson had said he’d seen the Scot crash over the edge of the road, there was relief as he finished the stage, albeit almost half an hour down.
However, Onley will play no further part in this race, with the team’s Director or Racing Geraint Thomas revealing on Saturday morning that Onley had dislocated his shoulder and injured his knee.
“I think it was a left-hander, and he just overshot slightly, and went down a bit of a drop into a ravine, so at least he was okay. It could have been a lot worse,” Thomas said.
“Dislocated shoulder and bit of a chunk out of his knee, but he’s off for some scans today, and hopefully he’ll be feeling good.”
Tour de France doubts?
Given he finished the stage, the crash does not sound like it will prevent Onley from riding the Tour de France, but it could well impact the form he takes into the race.
A dislocated shoulder can pop back in place fairly seamlessly but it can also cause significant injury around the shoulder, while it remains to be seen what “a bit of a chunk out of his knee” actually means.
“Fingers crossed all these scans will be okay and he can continue to go to the [training] camp with the guys and recover well,” said Thomas.
“He’s done so much work this year, so having an easy week won’t affect him physically. It’s just the injuries and how quickly they recover from that. We’re staying positive.”
A new setback in ‘frustrating’ season
The incident is the latest in a series of setbacks for Onley in his first season with Netcompany-Ineos, as three of the five stage races he has entered have gone unfinished due to illnesses and crashes.
After saying it was “hard not to feel like I’ve let a lot of people down” after his early exit from the Tour de Romandie, the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes was supposed to be a chance to gain momentum in the build-up to the Tour de France.
It had started well, despite a dropped chain in the stage 3 team time trial, with Onley starting the mountain stages third overall just behind teammate Kévin Vauquelin.
“We’re confident he would have ridden well, but it’s you just don’t know where exactly,” Thomas said.
“That’s probably the most frustrating thing for him, is that this year he hasn’t really had that chance to show what he can do, to find out where he’s at.”
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