The UCI Cycling Esports World Champion will ride for the Wolfpack in a number of races until the end of the season.
Hailing from Mainz, the 27-year-old Jason Osborne has made a name for himself in rowing, becoming World Champion in the lightweight single sculls race in 2018 before adding a silver medal to his palmares at the Tokyo Olympics, this time in the lightweight double sculls event.
In between, the German won the inaugural edition of the UCI Cycling Esports Championships, held over a 50km route featuring close to 500 meters of simulated elevation gain, among the riders he defeated being also some members of World Tour teams.
“For me, it means a lot to be a stagiaire here. I always wanted to make the transition to cycling, but with rowing being there it wasn’t possible to commit 100% to this. Now with the Olympics being over and it having been successful for me, I can focus on this. To start with Deceuninck – Quick-Step, the most successful team in the world, is the best opportunity I could get. They have shown that many great riders come out of the team and throughout the years they always did a great job in developing the riders who sported their jersey”, said Jason.
“Cycling has always been part of my training ritual in rowing. I have done a lot of base training on the bike since 2012, when I bought my first road bike, then over the years I became more passionate about it, did some races, got into the competitive side of the sport and tried to develop”, Jason continued. “I like time trials, but also hilly courses where you need to deliver an explosive effort on short climbs, the type of which is kind of similar to what you need to do in rowing. I am aware there are a lot of things I need to learn, but I want to take it one step at a time and see what I can achieve.”
“We have seen Jason’s physical attributes in his win at the Esports Worlds, and this was confirmed in the testing that we have done with him. We are curious how that will translate into racing. Moving into the pro peloton will be a process for him as he learns about the intricacies of the sport, as it would be for any young rider, and we will look to use our experience to help him with the transition”, said Deceuninck – Quick-Step head coach Koen Pelgrim.