Onley and Grégoire continue to impress among big names in first days of the Tour: "These are absolute world-class riders"

At 22, Onley came into the Tour fresh off a third place overall in the Tour of Switzerland, so his strong debut here isn’t entirely surprising. Still, the Brit from Picnic PostNL is proving himself against the very best riders right now, even if it meant digging incredibly deep on Tuesday. "If you ask me how I’m feeling right now, the answer is probably something that can’t be published," he joked right after the finish.

Onley thanked his teammates, especially Warren Barguil, for putting him in a perfect position in the finale, particularly on that last steep climb. "I really went to the limit on that last climb. We knew that you had to be in second wheel or so around that last corner, but the final kilometer was really about the legs, and that’s all I had in the end." He ended up fourth, just behind Tadej Pogacar, Mathieu van der Poel, and Jonas Vingegaard. "I was really on the limit."

Despite the pain, he was pleased with the result. "It doesn’t get much bigger than this in terms of races and competitors so it’s nice to be able to prove to myself that I can be there right at the top." His coach Matt Winston was proud too but made it clear that Onley isn’t thinking about the overall standings. "For us the plan doesn’t change now and we will keep focusing on stages here at the race and see how far we can come there, and if we keep this up then we can be in the fight for more top day results throughout the race."

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For Grégoire, after taking fourth place on day 2, it was fifth place this time. On Sunday, he was frustrated with himself for not showing more guts, but on Tuesday, satisfaction won out. "What an effort it took to come back today, it was such an intense finale. I wish I’d been in a better position to see what I could have done, but I have no regrets. I gave it everything I had, but those three up front are just unbeatable," he told L’Equipe.