Another leadership blow for INEOS: Oscar Onley confirmed out of the 2026 Tour de France

Oscar Onley was perhaps the biggest revelation of last year’s Tour de France. The Brit shone for Picnic PostNL and finished in fourth place, earning him a transfer to INEOS Grenadiers—now Netcompany INEOS. Things haven’t exactly gone smoothly for him with the British team so far, and just before the Tour de France, his worst fears were confirmed.

Onley had a rock-solid 2025, with not only that fine fourth place at the Tour but also a stage win and third overall at the Tour de Suisse, fifth at the UAE Tour and fourth at the Tour Down Under. The Scot then proved impossible to hold on to for the struggling Picnic PostNL, and INEOS Grenadiers saw the climber as the perfect home-grown leader for the future.

The 23-year-old made a fine debut for his new team at the Tour of the Algarve, where he finished fourth. After that, though, he ran into a lot of bad luck. He started Paris-Nice well, but came off worst after all the foul weather in the race and had to abandon. At the Tour of Catalonia, the level he wanted never materialised: he finished twelfth there.

At the Tour de Romandie, he had to pull the plug after just a day and a half because of stomach problems. The Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes was then meant to be the final test on the road to the Tour, but there the Netcompany INEOS leader came down hard. He went over the edge into a ravine, but miraculously managed to finish the stage. After a shoulder injury was discovered, the decision was taken not to let him start the next stage.

Geraint Thomas had already expressed his concerns about the Tour de France. Off the race circuit, there was still hope of getting Onley ready for the Tour de France but things weren’t going well. Several sources had already reported that he wouldn’t be starting, and the rider himself seemed to confirm it with a post on Strava: “Road to the Tour... Or Guangxi,' he wrote under his ride of just 43 kilometers.

On Thursday, his team confirmed the news: Onley, who was signed as the team leader for the Tour de France, will not be racing for Netcompany INEOS in July. On Instagram, the team reported that it is indeed the “significant shoulder injury” that will keep Onley sidelined. “I’m gutted not to be able to line up for the Tour de France this year,” Onley said.

The Brit hopes to return later this year. "My focus now is on recovery, on getting my shoulder right again. I'm hugely motivated to still make something of this season. I'm looking forward to watching the boys racing in France in the coming weeks, especially knowing how hard everyone has worked."

Onley's withdrawal is not the only blow: the team had already lost Josh Tarling, while Kévin Vauquelin is battling a virus after the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. The Frenchman has therefore skipped this week's national championships.