Oscar Onley wanted to win the Tour de Suisse at all costs. He attacked on flat terrain, on climbs, he tried in every way and step by step he climbed the podium steps until reaching the highest one, to glory. While in the third and fourth stages Joao Almeida had always beaten him, today he took his sweet revenge by capturing the queen stage with a finish in Santa Maria.

The British rider from Team Picnic Postnl crossed the finish line exhausted and incredulous. After days of continuous placements, success seemed almost like a curse that he fortunately managed to break. "I'm incredulous. In these days my teammates were teasing me about my continuous placements because I was getting close to victory but never managed to take it, basically it was like a curse." Even yesterday I tried chasing Almeida, but I moved too late - Oscar Onley told tuttobiciweb - today my legs were really turning well, I tried to anticipate and played a bit of strategy. The radio was telling me that Almeida had spent a lot to catch me, so once he reached me, I tried to recover some energy too, knowing the finale was particularly tough and I wanted to be ready. Sprinting isn't my strong point and two days ago Almeida had beaten me in the sprint and today the same could have happened. I thought in the last 50 meters he would overtake me, but instead I managed to resist until the end. I gave absolutely everything, but it's beautiful".

The 21-year-old from Great Britain is building his form brick by brick. He climbs very strongly and the world had already noticed this in the Valle d'Aosta tour in 2022 and had confirmation last year when he took the victory at Willunga Hill, the traditional queen stage of the Tour Down Under. "The victory at Tour Down Under was very special, it was the first of my career and for this reason it will always have a special place in my heart. Today, however, it was all more unexpected, the course was much harder and there was a top-level field. Currently, Joao Almeida is one of the strongest climbers in the world and not only holding his wheel, but actually beating him in the sprint gives me incredible energy, especially looking ahead to upcoming events." Onley continues, who after the Tour de Suisse will be at the start of the Tour de France, his major seasonal goal where he will try to win a stage. Last year, in his first participation, he took home a nice fifth place in the stage won by Carapaz, but this time he absolutely wants to improve.

After today's beautiful victory, Onley made a big leap in the general classification, now he is fourth less than 50" from the podium but catching it won't be simple at all. In second and third position are Alaphilippe and Almeida who certainly go faster than him on flat terrain and especially in time trials. Now, with few major climbs available, everything becomes extremely difficult if not impossible. "I'm ready to face the big challenges. Climbing on the podium is practically impossible, but I'll certainly try until the end because it would be a dream. I came to the Tour de Suisse to test myself, I wanted to understand where I was in my preparation, I had many doubts and was looking for answers. In this season I was never able to get the maximum, I was feeling good, but results weren't coming, now I can say I finally feel satisfied. I believe I've turned my season around, I have good morale and the right push to face the upcoming challenges."