Oscar Onley Breaks Collar Bone as He Pulls Out of Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race

Oscar Onley was all set to rule the 2024 edition of the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race when misfortune dawned on him. In an otherwise determined start to the race, the rider from Britain suffered a horrible injury as he broke his collarbone while racing. This was one of the biggest setbacks for Onley, as he was being regarded as the favorite to clinch the one-say race in Australia. Unfortunately, with that possibility out of the window, the 21-year-old would now have to sit out for several weeks and wait for his injury to heal.

While it was a tragic end to a positive start, some questions may invoke the curiosity of the fans. When did the cyclist get himself injured? How long will he be missing in action? Let’s inspect the incident and seek the answers below. 

Cycling tragedy strikes Oscar Onley

The rider from the Dsm-fermenich PostNL was heavily cheered as he was about to start the race. However, things soon went downhill as the Britisher hit the deck, injuring himself badly while the 176km race was still in midway. With no other option left, Onley immediately retired from the race as he was being attended by doctors and a medical team. After a significant amount of follow-up, the official statement came in, confirming the broken status of Onley’s collarbone. 

The team released a statement on Twitter (recently rebranded as X), further confirming the condition. It stated, “After further medical checks at the local hospital we can confirm that Oscar Onley unfortunately has broken his collarbone in the crash at the Cadel Evans Road Race.” The statement also mentioned that Onley will now take a significant amount of time to nurse his injuries. However, they did not mention the exact timeline for his expected return.

Speaking about his injury, the British cyclist stated, “Been a cool month in Australia, now finishing up now with broken collarbone number 3.”  Onley pointed out the fact that this was the third instance when he suffered a collarbone injury. Notably, Oscar was forced to retire early because of the same injury at the Vuelta a Espana in 2023. 

Although his run in the Cadel Evans was cut short, Oscar Onley had a perfect start to the season. 

Onley’s promising start to the season 

Oscar proved his mettle by clinching his maiden WorldTour triumph at stage 5’s sought-after pole finish at Willunga Hill in January. Such a result guided him to a fourth overall finish while guaranteeing him a second place overall in the youth classification round. With such an impressive record to start the season with, it is only a pity that Onley would now be missing in action for so long. 

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With the cyclist pulling out, his team’s best performance came from Chris Hamilton who had a seventh-place finish while Groupama FDJ’s Laurence Pithie was crowned the champion. 

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