Esports-Cycling-World Esports Champion to join Deceuninck–Quick-Step

Deceuninck NV

31/08/2021 17:12

BRUSSELS, Aug 31 (Reuters) - World Tour team
Deceuninck–Quick-Step have announced that UCI Cycling Esports
World Champion Jason Osborne will join their team as a stagiaire
 -- an amateur who rides with a professional team -- until the
end of the season.
    Osborne came to the attention of team bosses by winning the
50-kilometre route on the Esports platform Zwift, beating
several professional riders to claim glory at the inaugural
Esports Worlds last December.
    It is not the German's first foray into elite sport. 
    The 27-year-old won a gold medal at the 2018 World Rowing
Championships and also picked up a silver in the sport at this
year's Olympics in Tokyo.
    "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," Osborne
said. 
    "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."

 (Reporting by Joseph Walker; editing by Clare Fallon)
 ((clare.fallon@thomsonreuters.com))