Oscar Onley: The Scotsman of the Tour de France elite

With the Tour de France starting in Italy, it will be of particular interest in one Scottish city.

Oscar Onley, from Kelso, will be the last of just a handful of Scots to have taken part in cycling’s biggest event which starts in Florence on Saturday.

The 21-year-old plays for the Dutch team DSM-Firmenich.

He suffered a series of broken collarbone injuries in the early stages of his career, but has put in some impressive performances in between.

He has recovered from his latest setback just in time and can now compete in Florence. Fans will be watching him closely even though it all started.

It all started for the young Borderer ten years ago at the Kelso Wheelers club, where local champion David Burgher happened to be a neighbour.

“Oscar joined the club when he was about 10 years old,” said David.

“The local time trial was right past his front door, so he always checked us out before joining in.

“His father Steve initially came with him when he turned 10 because we had a rule that you had to be accompanied by an adult at that age, but within a few minutes Oscar would pass his father – he was just a fantastic athlete.”

David said it was pretty clear from the start that cycling was the young boy’s passion.

“I would be in the garage tinkering with my bikes and Oscar would be fascinated by them and how they worked,” he said.

‘His father was a London taxi driver at the time, who spent his time between London and Kelso, and he turned up one day and asked if they could come with me the next time I went out.’

Their appearance at Glentress Forest to join David and his daughter was a little unusual.

“We were just getting our bikes when they turned up in the black cab, driving up to the hillside car park at Glentress. That was quite unusual, I must say,” he said.

“But they got on their motorcycles and just ran around, with a lot of enthusiasm from Oscar.”

David is happy that this is translating into a career in sports.

“It’s been great to see his rise, but at heart he’s still the same guy: from the very beginning that I can remember, he’s been full of grit and determination,” he said.

“I remember he hadn’t been riding his bike for very long when his mother asked me if I wanted to go for a bike ride with him. I looked out the window and saw it was raining and hailing. I thought, ‘He must be crazy.’

“We went out there and Oscar just kept going. All credit to him, because even for the most seasoned cyclist it was tough. But Oscar was just so determined at that age.”

But his qualities really came to the fore uphill.

“I first saw his climbing ability, which is now phenomenal, on one of the limited club runs – the Redpath climb, also known as the Ripper; terrible, horrendous, he just struggled with the start,” he said.

“But Oscar loved that challenge and he just flew towards it. He was so determined.

“That was probably the moment I realized there was something special.”

Onley, a former pupil of Broomlands Primary, Longridge and Kelso High, is only the second rider from the Borders to compete in the Tour, after Hawick’s Ken Laidlaw in 1961.

Other Scots who have taken part include Ian Steel, John Kennedy, Robert Millar – now Philippa York – and David Millar.

Onley’s Kelso mentor will lead a Borders delegation to France later in the race to support Onley.

“It’s only Oscar’s first Tour de France but there’s no reason why we can’t see him competing,” said David.

“He certainly has the capabilities.

“I don’t know how many people will come to support locally, but we have an open invitation for Scots to join us. We have a camper and a big tent.

“And we’re going to put up a banner for Oscar, so it’ll be great to see him – the Kelso boy in the biggest bike race in the world.”