Onley and dsm-firmenich PostNL get to work after Willunga coup: "Very grateful to the team"

The Dutch staff at dsm-Firmenich PostNL will wake up on a happy note on Saturday. Their rider Oscar Onley managed to win the well-known Willunga Hill stage in the Tour Down Under, putting the Scotsman in a good position to claim the overall classification of the WorldTour race.

On Willunga Hill, Onley kept a cool head and ensured until the last few hundred meters that other riders, such as Chris Harper and Simon Yates, did the hard work for him. Eventually, he countered an attack from Julian Alaphilippe, and then left the new leader Stephen Williams and Jhonatan Narváez behind on the final uphill meters of the Australian hill.

The 20-year-old rider thus beat a grand tour winner in Yates and a two-time world champion in Alaphilippe. "It's unbelievable. I knew I was in good shape heading into this race and wanted to achieve something in one of these stages, but I wasn't sure about it against these guys. I'm very grateful to everyone who helped me towards this race," a thrilled Onley said in the flash interview.

Onley and dsm-firmenich PostNL have one more day to go

Williams and Onley are currently on the same time. "So, I still have a lot of work to do, but with good teammates, we're going to do everything we can. Chris Hamilton just came up to me and said: you did it. He's kept me calm over the past few days in the sprint stages, and with the team, they've really invested in making sure I didn't lose time," he expressed his gratitude towards his DSM-Firmenich PostNL teammates.

Onley's name is now listed among others like Alejandro Valverde, Alberto Contador and Richie Porte. "It's an iconic climb. Having my name among the winners feels very special." On Sunday, he could also win the overall classification, but first, he needs to survive the tricky stage towards Mount Lofty better than Williams.