After previous days for the sprinters and escape artists, Saturday’s stage at Alpes Isère Tour saw the climbers come to the fore as they took on a challenging 182 kilometre route from Monsteroux-Milieu to Saint-Maurice-l’Exil which included over 3000 metres of climbing. It was a fast start to the day with lots of attacks, with the team working well to position finisher Oscar Onley who managed to nab two bonus seconds at the opening sprint. After that point things settled down for a bit with a breakaway group going clear which featured Enzo Leijnse. They worked well together but their gap was only allowed to grow out to two minutes before the peloton began to ramp up the pace on the longest climb of the day.
With the break all but caught, our Development program guys also contributed to the pace and helped split things even more, launching Onley clear in an elite group. Despite things regrouping on the descent with around 25 riders, another climb saw the young Scot go clear and form a five rider group out front. Over the remaining 50 kilometres they worked well together and built up a one minute advantage on the chasers heading onto the last lap with ten kilometres to go. On the final climb of the day stage winner Van Eetvelt would make his move and go solo while Onley dug deep behind in the chase, ultimately crossing the line in second place on the stage; setting up a big battle on tomorrow’s monstrous mountain stage.
