White jersey holder Oscar Onley is still struggling with illness at the Vuelta a España

Oscar Onley (Netcompany INEOS) lost time for the second day in a row on Friday to podium contenders such as Enric Mas and Felix Gall in the Vuelta a España. However, the white jersey wearer has a logical reason for this; he is still dealing with the aftereffects of an illness.

"What Andreas [Leknessund] and Wout [van Aert] did was truly impressive," the Scot began his account. "They went on the attack right from kilometer 0 and stayed away all day, with a few others catching up to them now and then. It was pretty chaotic at the start. It was a strange stage with a lot of climbing and few descents, but the climbs weren’t too tough—just pedaling the whole time.”

For Onley, the main thing was to focus on the final climb: he still managed to finish a respectable fifth among the general classification contenders. “It was still tough on the final climb. To be honest, I’m not sure how to describe it, but it was hard to really give it my all today. I didn’t feel my best in the final stretch.”

Onley explains what the problem is. “I got sick during the fourth stage (where he said he spent the whole night in the bathroom, ed.) and I still haven’t fully recovered. I’m getting better every day, but recovering during a Grand Tour is pretty tough. I’m starting to feel better every day, and hopefully I’ll be back to normal by Sunday,” he says, looking ahead to the upcoming grueling mountain stage.

The Netcompany INEOS team leader is now in sixth place, 6.06 minutes behind Tadej Pogacar. Primoz Roglic, who is currently in third place, holds a 1.16-minute lead over Onley in the battle for a podium finish in the Vuelta a España.