Daniel Oss (Liquigas-Cannondale) has spent most of his spring season looking out for the budding 22-year-old superstar Peter Sagan, but the 25-year-old Oss will get his chance to be the protected rider for Liquigas-Cannondale when the team takes to the cobbles on Sunday in Paris-Roubaix.
The Italian fast man has developed a solid working relationship with Sagan, and this has led to some of his own positive results this season. Oss began 2012 at the Tour of Qatar, where he took second on stage five. After using the Tour of Oman and Tirreno-Adriatico as further preparation, Oss began a busy Classics season.
He was ninth in Milan-Sanremo after making it over the Poggio with the favourites, a place he took trying to set up Sagan, who was fourth. He was 16th in Gent-Wevelgem and though he was 60th in the Tour of Flanders, he tried several probing moves in the later stages of the race, again to soften things up for Sagan.
That he was unable to take a better finish in Flanders frustrated the Italian, who said he will use the disappointment as motivation on Sunday.
“Physically, I’m in good condition, and above all I hope to make up for my performance in Flanders, where I expected a better result,” Oss stated. “I’ve worked hard to prepare for these races and I really want to produce a stunning ride. Out of all the Classics, Roubaix is really the one that suits me the best. I know its challenges and pitfalls, and I’ll play all my cards to put my stamp on the race.”
To support Oss, Liquigas-Cannondale sends Kristjan Koren, Paolo Longo Borghini, and Ted King. Also riding will be Federico Canuti and Juraj Sagan, who both make their Paris-Roubaix debuts on Sunday.
“We’ve racked up some good performances in Belgium so we’re going to tackle Paris-Roubaix with plenty of grit and motivation,” vowed team director Dario Mariuzzo. “Everything looks good for a strong race and I firmly believe in Daniel’s ability to get a decent result.
“I won the race [as director] in 2004 with [Magnus] Bäckstedt playing the role of outsider, and it would be a dream to repeat that experience with these guys.”
Liquigas-Cannondale for Paris-Roubaix:
Daniel Oss, Federico Canuti, Mauro Da Dalto, Ted King, Kristjan Koren, Paolo Longo Borghini, Alan Marangoni, Juraj Sagan