Young Scot closes on podium as Pogacar extends lead

Australia’s Ben O’Connor claims stage 18 victory

Oscar Onley edged closer to a surprise podium finish in the 2025 Tour de France, as Tadej Pogacar moved further ahead of second-placed Jonas Vingegaard in the Tour’s toughest mountain stage to Col de la Loze.

Urged on by the band of OnleyFans at the roadside, the 22-year-old from Kelso produced the ride of his young life in the Tour’s queen stage, won by Ben O’Connor, to climb to within 22sec of a top-three placing.

“That’s not much,” Picnic PostNL’s Onley said of the slim margin between him and the third-placed German, Florian Lipowitz of Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, on the eve of the Tour’s final summit finish at La Plagne. “We’ll give it everything tomorrow.”