Scottish climber Oscar Onley will depart Picnic PostNL to join Ineos Grenadiers from the 2026 season, completing a late transfer that the Dutch squad has described as “too strong to refuse”. The move follows the 23-year-old’s breakout fourth place at the 2025 Tour de France.
In a statement confirming his departure, Picnic PostNL said that although it had hoped to retain Onley until the end of his contract, Ineos’ proposal was “very late, but particularly attractive” and would allow the team to reinvest in its development structure.
Onley, who came through the Dutch team’s development programme after turning professional at 19, spoke about leaving the set-up where he has spent his entire WorldTour career so far.
“The opportunity to represent the team of my home country was one I could not refuse,” he said in a statement issued by Picnic PostNL. “I’m extremely proud of what I’ve achieved with this team. Progressing through from the Development program to finishing 4th at the Tour de France has been incredible, and a real testament to what this team is able to do with riders.”
Centrepiece of Ineos GC rebuild
The signing follows Ineos Grenadiers' reshaping of their stage race squad after several seasons in which they have struggled to match UAE Team Emirates and Visma–Lease a Bike in the mountains.
Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers), now the team’s director of racing, has been closely involved in the recruitment drive and has long praised Onley’s racing intelligence.
“The strongest teams I ever rode with had multiple, talented GC riders, and that is what I feel we have now,” Thomas said, outlining a return to the multi-leader approach that underpinned the team’s earlier Grand Tour successes.
Onley’s fourth place at the 2025 Tour, achieved at just 22, made him the youngest rider in the top 10 and confirmed his ability to contend over three weeks. His arrival gives Ineos an additional high-level option alongside their existing general classification leaders for the Tour, Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España in the coming seasons.
For Picnic PostNL, co-sponsored by online supermarket Picnic and the Dutch postal service PostNL, the transfer fee represents a rare cash-out on a headline graduate of its development pathway. Head coach Rudi Kemna stressed that the team remains confident in its next generation of climbers and all-rounders already moving through the system.
The 2027 Tour de France will start in Edinburgh, with stages across Scotland, England and Wales. Onley, from Kelso in the Scottish Borders, is now in line to arrive at that Grand Départ as a home rider on a British-registered team.
Onley will race with Ineos from the outset of the 2026 season, with his precise race programme yet to be announced.
Cover image credit: Zac Williams/SWpix.com
