Teams & Riders Hot Foss - The Tobias Foss Thread

[Samu Cuenca]

He won the Tour de l'Avenir in 2019, having finished 9th the year before. It wasn't the strongest edition of the race, and he was also older than many of the other rider, but these days a l'Avenir win seems to be a stepping stone to greatness, so it shouldn't be discounted.

Last year he also did a great first ITT in the Giro, before his team sadly had to withdraw from the race. His debut as a pro wasn't perfect either, as he crashed during the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana in February and broke his collarbone.
This year he was the only real helper for van Aert in Tirreno. Then he put in another good TT performance in Itzulia, but he didn't perform his best during the rest of the race, where Vingegaard and Tolhoek overshadowed him.

In this Giro he's one of a small handful of riders, who has outperformed their designated leaders, and with a little luck and some more help from George Bennett he could possibly have been higher placed than ninth right now.

Foss Facts

• He turned 24 on Tuesday (May 25th) making him a Gemini.
• He comes from Vingrom, a small village outside Lillehammer.
• His middle name is Svendsen, and just like a different guy with that name, he used to do biathlon. But he was a terrible shot, so that career never took of. He was however introduced to cycling through his local biathlon club, so it did do him some good.
• Froome and Boasson-Hagen were his idols as a child, and he got to meet the latter at a club event when he was 13.
• He lives in Girona.

 

[roundabout]

Now that Boasson Hagen is mentioned, would he be Edvald B. Hagen if he was to enter the Giro, or do I have no idea how the surnames work in Norway?

 

[Eclipse]

What a thread title samu ❤️

 

[Lequack]

Why is Norway not hyping this man up? It's like all the Norwegians go to hibernate after the winter sports end.

 

[BlueRoads]

Great post, but that picture! He looks like "you wouldn't dare to come next to me, would you?"

 

[CyclistAbi]

Nice Giro so far, for him. If he will continue to progress steadily he has a nice cycling career ahead.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Now that Boasson Hagen is mentioned, would he be Edvald B. Hagen if he was to enter the Giro, or do I have no idea how the surnames work in Norway?

I guess that would have been the case before 2017, but when he got married he and his wife decided to hyphenate it.

 

[AlfaLum]

Nice Giro so far, for him. If he will continue to progress steadily he has a nice cycling career ahead.

I think he will. I believe Foss has never specifically trained to be a GC guy so far. And from the looks of him there is definitely still a lot to be gained for him in terms of weight.

Of course it Will be different for him once competitors start taking him into consideration. At this moment nobody in the Giro cares about Foss and he is just hanging on as long as possible.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Does anyone know what the best Norwegian GC result in a Grand Tour is? I thought that Knut Knudsen might have finished in the top 10 in the Giro, but his best placing was 15th in 1980.

 

[roundabout]

Does anyone know what the best Norwegian GC result in a Grand Tour is? I thought that Knut Knudsen might have finished in the top 10 in the Giro, but his best placing was 15th in 1980.

Hagen in the 2019 Vuelta?

 

[RedheadDane]

Hagen in the 2019 Vuelta?

.... I thought you were talking about Edvald, and I was really confused...

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Hagen in the 2019 Vuelta?

Of course, he slipped my mind entirely, presumably because I was focusing on his namesake.
And before that Dag Erik Pedersen finished 10th in the 1984 Giro, so Foss will probably achieve the second best Norwegian result in history.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Does anyone know what the best Norwegian GC result in a Grand Tour is? I thought that Knut Knudsen might have finished in the top 10 in the Giro, but his best placing was 15th in 1980.

Knutsen DNS stage 18 of the 1979 Giro, when he was 2nd on the gc. That said, those were the dark ages of the Giro, the Moser-Saronni years...

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Knutsen DNS stage 18 of the 1979 Giro, when he was 2nd on the gc. That said, those were the dark ages of the Giro, the Moser-Saronni years...

What a shame for Knudsen. A route with five ITTs really favoured him, but that was of course also the case for both Moser and Saronni.

 

[Mayomaniac]

What a shame for Knudsen. A route with five ITTs really favoured him, but that was of course also the case for both Moser and Saronni.

Yeah, the mountain stages of that Giro were also obscene..

 

[railxmig]

Yeah, the mountain stages of that Giro were also obscene..

All Moser-Saronni Giri had obscene "mountain" stages. I mean the one that Pollentier won he was riding for freakin Maertens, who was in the lead untill he crashed if my memory's correct. Maertens was considered to be the GC leader for that Giro, but then he somehow managed to get a top 10 (he was fueled though) in one of the most mountainous TdF to date ('76, Van Impe won).

I am extremly happy that a new nation has a potential GC prospect in Foss as i wouldn't count Carl Hagen as a GC prospect.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

I am extremly happy that a new nation has a potential GC prospect in Foss as i wouldn't count Carl Hagen as a GC prospect.

I think the jury's still out on CF Hagen. He hasn't build on the performances from his first pro season yet, but not everyone managed to peak last year. He is currently coming back from an injury he sustained on a training ride in March, so he hasn't had any opportunties to really show himsels so far this year. If he's going to ride the Vuelta, although there's a chance that iSN brings a different leader, we might be able to see him at his best and getter a better idea about his future potential. But Foss definitely looks like the most exciting prospect of the two even if they had been the same age.

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

I was thinking about creating this thread myself some days ago. A Norwegian cycling podcast named Foss "Jerven fra Vingrom" last week, translated to "The Wolverine from Vingrom" (Vingrom is the small place outside Lillehammer where he is from), and I thought that would be a fun thread title, but I guess this one works also

I hope Foss gets to ride the Giro in a free role also next year instead of going to the Tour as pure helper. I think a lot of Norwegians have started to dream about Foss coming back to UnoX when his contract with Jumbo finishes, to then lead what hopefully is a Norwegian WT-team in Tour de France.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

He got his first pro win yesterday.

 

[Netserk]

Even Santambrogio would be envious of those cheeks. And in the OP, it's a pretty stark contrast to have Dan Martin next to Foss wrt the visibility of veins.

 

[BlueRoads]

Even Santambrogio would be envious of those cheeks. And in the OP, it's a pretty stark contrast to have Dan Martin next to Foss wrt the visibility of veins.

Foss looks really healthy.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Even Santambrogio would be envious of those cheeks. And in the OP, it's a pretty stark contrast to have Dan Martin next to Foss wrt the visibility of veins.

Those are some proper Wilco cheeks!

 

[Netserk]

Foss looks really healthy.

I don't think Martin looks unhealthy, and I'm sure Foss will slim down in the coming years.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

I think DSM is completely shitting the bed with their youngsters. Leknessund was 13th in the WCC ITT last year. He has actually regressed since signing for DSM. I'm sure Foss made some progression, but now Leknessund is over a minute down on Waerenskjold as well.

By the way, Foss really isn't "a big boy". He has very lean legs and i think it's just his face giving the impression he's "fat".

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

I think DSM is completely shitting the bed with their youngsters. Leknessund was 13th in the WCC ITT last year. He has actually regressed since signing for DSM. I'm sure Foss made some progression, but now Leknessund is over a minute down on Waerenskjold as well.

As I said in the Leknessund thread, I have the impression Leknessund haven’t prioritized TT training since his transfer to DSM, so regression in ITT should more or less be expected.
And Wærenskjold is a great TT prospect, he did beat Leknessund head to head in June last year when they raced for the national record over 30 kilometers during the competition break (I think it was in June, so quite close to Leknessunds impressive WC result)