Bora-Hansgrohe name team to back Peter Sagan at Tour of Flanders

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Bora-Hansgrohe have named the team to support Peter Sagan at this weekend’s Tour of Flanders, with the world champion supported by experienced Classics men Daniel Oss and Marcus Burghardt.

Sagan is aiming to win a second Tour of Flanders title after taking victory in the 2016 edition ahead of Fabian Cancellara and Sep Vanmarcke, his first and only Monument success.

The 28-year-old Slovakian has had a mixed Classics campaign so far. He skipped the opening weekend in Belgium in favour of altitude training and only made his cobbled debut at E3 Harelbeke last week after taking sixth at Milan-San Remo. The race did not go to plan after he crashed and then missed out on a split, eventually finishing over three minutes behind the winner Niki Terpstra. He later said that he hadn't fell well during the race.

He bounced back two days later to take a sprint victory a Gent-Wevelgem, beating Elia Viviani (Quick-Step Floors) in the rush to the line. It was the third time that Sagan had won the event. While Sagan played down his chances for this weekend, his last victory at Gent-Wevelgem came in the same season that he went on to claim his Tour of Flanders title.

Sagan is not in action at today's Dwars door Vlaanderen preferring to rest up for the Tour of Flanders. 

Burghardt and Oss have been his two key riders throughout his Classics campaign, with the former making several attacks throughout Gent-Wevelgem. Like their leader, they too have sat out the mid-week racing ahead of the Tour of Flanders, as has Andreas Schillinger, who will be a part of the squad.

The remaining three riders will come from Wednesday’s Dwars door Vlaanderen line-up, with Sagan joined by his brother Juraj, Maciej Bodnar and Christoph Pfingsten.

Bora-Hansgrohe for the Tour of Flanders: Peter Sagan, Marcus Burghardt, Daniel Oss, Maciej Bodnar, Christoph Pfingsten, Andreas Schillinger, Juraj Sagan.

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