Italian to debut at Tour Down Under with new team leader
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Daniel Oss (BMC) was in the break of the day and took the green climber's jersey (Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Peter Sagan wins stage 3 at the 2017 Tour de France(Image credit: Michael Aisner)
Thor Hushovd interviews Daniel Oss at the team presentation(Image credit: ASO)
BMC's Daniel Oss drives the peloton during stage 1 in Oman.
New signings Daniel Oss, Davide Formolo and Pete Kennaugh raise a glass with Peter Sagan and team sponsors (Image credit: BORA - hansgrohe / VeloImages)
Daniel Oss has told Cyclingnews that the chance to link up with Peter Sagan was the main driving force behind his transfer and that the world champion is not comparable to anyone else in the WorldTour.
Oss left BMC Racing in the summer having lined up alongside Greg Van Avermaet, Philippe Gilbert and Thor Hushovd during his five years with the team. His move to Bora-Hansgrohe was announced in the summer, and although he will replicate his Classics role at the German team, he believes that riding with Sagan will inspire him.
"I've moved from one leading Classics rider to another. If you're going to compare them, then for sure Peter and Greg are both at the top level," Oss told Cyclingnews.
"One has been the world champion three times, the other is Olympic champion. One has won Paris-Roubaix, the other has won Flanders. I'm at Bora because I'm going to stay with Peter until the end of the races. That's my job and my position but I also have ambitions. With Peter it could be nice to have some good results. It's not always the strongest who wins, so tactics can play a part. Racing with Peter is always good fun though and he inspires.
"You have to remember that Bora is just a second-year WorldTour team. You can feel it in the team that they constantly want to improve. They don't just stop with one rider, they want to keep going and that really helps with motivation when you're a rider. You feel like you're growing too."
Oss and Sagan both share the same rider agent and the move certainly strengths Sagan and Bora's position in the Spring Classics. Oss has solidified his position as one of the most reliable one-day riders in the WorldTour and the transfer also sees the two riders return as teammates for the first time since their Liquigas days.
"You can't compare Peter to anyone at all. No one compares to him as a person or as an athlete. We've not seen anyone like him in the last one hundred years. It comes across in his personality, so whether it's an interview or at a dinner table, he is the best face for new cycling. If I wanted an idol, or a man, to represent me or cyclists then it would be Peter. He's the main reason I joined the team. He inspires you, he has a power that makes things click."
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Tour Down Under
Oss' first race will see him line-up at the Tour Down Under – alongside Sagan – in January. From there the pair will be part of Bora-Hansgrohe altitude training camp. Then the Classics come into focus with Oss also counting Tirenno-Adriatico on his race calendar. He will miss the Giro d'Italia in May with the Tour de France in July another part of his schedule.
"The programme is going to be different, right from the start. I go to Tour Down Under first with Peter, and then we do an altitude camp before the Classics. From there it's a normal calendar with Tirenno in there as well."
Daniel Benson was the Editor in Chief at Cyclingnews.com between 2008 and 2022. Based in the UK, he joined the Cyclingnews team in 2008 as the site's first UK-based Managing Editor. In that time, he reported on over a dozen editions of the Tour de France, several World Championships, the Tour Down Under, Spring Classics, and the London 2012 Olympic Games. With the help of the excellent editorial team, he ran the coverage on Cyclingnews and has interviewed leading figures in the sport including UCI Presidents and Tour de France winners.
