Oscar Onley has added his name and backing to the Scottish junior team that gave him his start. Known as Spokes RT when Onley and other current Scottish professionals such as Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe’s Callum Thornley and Modern Adventure’s Mark Stewart cut their teeth at the Dundee-based squad, the team has been renamed Spokes RT-Oscar Onley Development for the 2026 season.
Spokes RT gave Onley his first opportunity in Europe in 2019 as a first-year junior. As a rider so obviously suited to the mountains of continental Europe, Onley shone. He caught the eye of the AG2R La Mondiale (now Decathlon CMA CGM) junior team after impressing with seventh place at the prestigious Valromey Tour. Onley moved on to Team DSM’s under-23 development team in 2021, stepping up to the WorldTour two years later and finishing fourth at the 2025 Tour de France, catalysing his mid-contract transfer to Ineos Grenadiers last winter.
“He’s always been very thankful for what we did for him because he’s always said that without the support we gave him and taking him to Europe he would never have got those opportunities,” the team’s manager, Craig Grieve, told Cycling Weekly.
“It means a lot to me to be able to give back in a small way to the sport in Scotland,” Onley added. “I had so many people help me when I was younger and allowed me to get to the level where I could compete in Europe. Craig has been a key part of many British riders over the years so it was an honour that he wanted my name associated with the team as he’s focussing on rebuilding the team again and trying to help the next crop of riders coming through.
“I try to keep an eye out for the results of some of the races they do and I’m sure I’ll by racing next to some of these guys in a few years which excites me to try and increase the number of Scottish riders in the World tour.”
As well as putting his name to the team, Onley is setting time aside from his schedule as one of the world’s top General Classification riders to support youngsters on the team. The Onley name is also opening doors for the team to gain high profile race invites and sponsorships.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
“The biggest thing from him that we really needed was just people to know that he was on board and that he came from our team,” Grieve says. “We don’t have to have hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of budget. Putting his name behind it has helped us. It actually helped us to get sponsors as well. He does get involved and he does help. When he’s available, he’ll do training camps, he’ll do Zoom calls with the guys at training camps. It’s just massive for the boys. For them to have his name on their jersey is just phenomenal for them. They’re all so proud.”
Spokes RT was launched in 2012 at a time when there were very few opportunities for Scottish juniors to race in Europe and grew into one of the country’s best junior teams. After the COVID pandemic, the team went on hiatus in 2024 due to a lack of junior riders coming through.
Grieve and Onley have stayed in touch over the years and the Ineos Grenadiers man contacted his old team manager to express his sadness when the team closed. When Grieve was planning to start things up again for this season, Onley was keen to get involved.
“We had a year-and-a-half away and then came back again for this season. We thought, what a great time to do it. We’ve got Oscar doing what he’s doing and he’s really keen.”
Finding the next Oscar Onley
Grieve played a part in identifying Onley’s potential before he hit the junior age group. He says that the rider from Kelso’s talent was obvious from his first training sessions with the team.
“He was a small kid and he was in a club that was full of big lads that were six foot tall, big units, winning all the youth races because they were just enormous for their age. He was always playing second fiddle to those boys, just doing his own thing. You could see him slowly developing in the background.”
“When it got to his last year as a youth, he really started to show that he was coming onto something. We have a selection camp every year. He came to the camp and he was the strongest rider. Head and shoulders above all the guys.”
Now, Grieve sees Onley’s achievements as something to inspire the next generation of Scottish talent. “That’s where you could go. You can aspire to be the next Oscar Onley. It was just a little Scottish team that produced him,” he says.
The team has also announced that a brand new junior women’s team will be launched for 2027. The men’s team will begin their 2026 European campaign in the Netherlands in May before further trips to France and Belgium later in the year.
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