Oscar Onley moved to within 22 seconds of a podium finish on the 2025 Tour de France’s toughest mountain stage to Col de la Loze, as Tadej Pogacar extended his lead over Jonas Vingegaard. The 22-year-old Scot from Kelso produced a determined ride in the queen stage, won by Ben O’Connor, to climb to fourth overall.
“That’s not much,” Onley said of the slim margin separating him from third-placed Florian Lipowitz of Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe. “We’ll give it everything tomorrow.” Dropped by Pogacar and Vingegaard on the Col de la Madeleine, Onley rejoined the main group on the valley roads. “Visma set a hard pace,” he said. “I just did what I could.”
Pogacar attacked in the final 500 metres of the climb, distancing both Vingegaard and Onley on the steepest gradients, and now leads by a comfortable margin. “It’s not over yet and I will try my best tomorrow,” he said, but added: “I cannot wait that it’s all over. This is the point where I ask myself: ‘Why am I still here?’”
Ben O’Connor claimed his second Alpine stage win for Jayco–AlUla, crossing the mist-shrouded finish line with an exultant cry. Jonas Vingegaard described the stage as “brutal”, admitting: “I’m not sure I’ve ever done such a hard stage in the Tour before.”
Before the stage, Pogacar collided with a Visma-Lease a Bike team car while riding to the start, but suffered no ill effects. With one more summit finish at La Plagne on Friday, an unprecedented collapse would be needed to deny the Slovenian the yellow jersey.
