“Right, really broken” he feels the day after. Sometimes he just missed the sporting goals. And my knee hurts too. For John Degenkolb, however, that does not mean that he would look to the four days of racing on the Germany tour with adversity. But on the contrary. “It was a lot of fun,” says the 32-year-old. And even if the man from Oberursel was unable to intervene at the forefront in the battle for stage wins, he managed a good result in the classification with just 32 seconds behind the overall winner from Cologne, Nils Politt (Team Bora-hansgrohe).
“The course has been set so that a good autumn is waiting for me,” says Degenkolb. Finally, four highlights are waiting for him – with three of them he has already left clear traces of success: There is the classic Eschborn-Frankfurt bike that was postponed to 19 September, the World Championships in Flanders, his declared favorite race Paris-Roubaix and Paris-Tours, which he is how Paris – Roubaix has already won.
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But the 2021 Germany tour from Stralsund to Nuremberg was not just any race for Degenkolb. At the weekend, it not only led through the part of Franconia where he grew up and made his first attempts at cycling, he owes much of his participation to his own initiative. For years, the family man has been one of the German racing drivers who not only pedal for their own account, but also want to promote German cycling as such.
Home racing days are rare for Degenkolb during his eleven-year professional career, as he was socialized in those years when his sport in this country was down due to many doping misconduct. But he was originally supposed to miss this year’s third edition of the Germany tour, which was revived in 2018. In the two previous editions, his former team Trek-Segafredo either did not start or planned a different field of activity for him.
Also this year, its premiere at the only German tour of rank had actually already burst. Degenkolb’s Belgian team Lotto Soudal did not register for the four-day race. So he brought the idea to the organizer and the Association of German Cyclists to go into the race as the head of a German national team and to give young racing drivers a chance to prove themselves on a big stage.
“Lots of heart and soul and passion”
His team, which had not nominated him for this year’s Tour de France at short notice and will not renew his contract, which expires at the end of the year, gave the classic expert more or less “free” for the excursion on his native asphalt. And so Degenkolb started last Thursday not only with his own ambitions in Stralsund, but also as a kind of dad of the company. Four young drivers from the years 2000 and 2001 as well as the Odenwald professional Jonas Rutsch made up the German selection with him.
Instructing young drivers in a first-class environment – that will also be part of Degenkolb’s job profile from the coming year. The veteran changes to the Dutch-influenced team DSM, which cycles with a German license. A team that relies heavily on its youth concept and has already been the springboard for many greats in the peloton. Not least for Degenkolb himself, who is returning to his roots with the change. Only he was not active as a young professional with the team that was then called Giant-Shimano, but experienced his best years there.
The triumphs at Milan – Sanremo and Paris – Roubaix, the two highlights in his sporting résumé, Degenkolb won in this team’s jersey. His role on the Germany tour was “a kind of dress rehearsal” for his future role, he says with a smile. “The young guys took every advice super and fulfilled every task with a lot of heart and soul.” And they were absolutely convincing. Henri Uhlig, for example, was once named the most combative driver of the day. Degenkolb has a special relationship with the man from Regensburg.
Uhlig was a big fan of “Dege” even as a child and traveled with his parents to the races where he could see his idol live. For the Germany tour, where he was allowed to drive side by side with his role model, Uhlig brought a picture with him that shows him as an autograph hunter with Degenkolb at the U-23 World Cup in Varese, Italy. The fathers Uhlig and Degenkolb once competed against each other. The sons first drove together between Stralsund and Nuremberg. With the aim of putting Degenkolb in a good position in the fight for daily success.
But in the first two stages he was “unlucky,” says Degenkolb. On the opening day, a driver who fell had damaged his rear derailleur so that he was no longer competitive in the race finale. On day two he went down himself. The 32-year-old was left with a deep wound that had to be sewn with three stitches that evening. When struck like that, there was a lack of energy and, of course, the last willingness to give full throttle on the rain-soaked pavement.
“On the third day it went much better than expected. Just set off again and do a long sprint, that gave me a lot of self-confidence, ”says Degenkolb, who was rewarded with fifth place. On the final day, like the other sprint-savvy drivers, he had to struggle with the hilly course in Franconia. But after a few days of rest for the knee, Degenkolb wants to resume the fight. When the peloton drives past its front door in Oberursel – at its home race between Eschborn and Frankfurt.
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