Arensman wasn’t the only Dutch rider to impress on La Plagne, says team leader Onley

Onley made up a lot of ground on Thursday on number three and white jersey Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) and could therefore dream of a podium finish ahead of the final stage in the Alps, but ultimately had to drop back in the last two kilometers.

“The boys did a great job today, I’m super happy with them. Frank was strong and supported me onto the La Plagne climb. He did a massive pull there,” said the Scot, who was the first to give his Dutch colleague a well-deserved compliment.

“Of course I would have loved to go one step higher, but I think if someone told me before the start of the Tour de France that we would be in fourth place on GC with a few stages to go – then I wouldn’t believe them. I just gave everything I had today so there’s nothing to regret,” said Onley after the race.

Coach Matt Winston fully agrees. “I’m super proud again of how we rode today. We did everything we could to set Oscar up, with Frank riding well in support, and Oscar dug super deep finishing fifth in the end. It’s his eighth top ten of this Tour de France which is absolutely incredible. We have two days left here where we will continue to fight for our stage results.”

Onley is now 1.03 minutes behind Lipowitz in the GC, but saw number five Primoz Roglic lose ground on the way to La Plagne.