Alexander Kristoff’s remarkable winning run over the past fortnight has seen the Norwegian afforded a Paul Bunyan-like status by some of his peers ahead of Paris-Roubaix, though Giant-Alpecin's John Degenkolb, it seems, is not among their number.
Although Kristoff has never placed higher than ninth at Paris-Roubaix, his show of force at the Tour of Flanders last week has been enough to install him as the pre-race favourite and there is a groundswell of opinion that he would be all but unbeatable in the event of a group sprint.
It is just three weeks, however, since Degenkolb out-sprinted Kristoff on the Via Roma to deny him a second successive Milan-San Remo, proving that no man is invulnerable. It’s no surprise, then, that the German is one of the very few riders – the only one, perhaps – who would not be daunted by the prospect of approaching the gates of the velodrome alongside Kristoff.
ADVERTISEMENT
“He’s a really good rider and he has done some great results in the last weeks but I don’t need to be scared of him if it comes down to a sprint on the velodrome,” Degenkolb told reporters in Compiègne on Saturday. “I beat him in Milan-San Remo, so if it comes to that I’m pretty confident. But definitely he’s in great shape and we have to make a smart race. I certainly can’t only focus on one rider because there are maybe 10 riders who can win the race.”
While most of the other contenders dutifully told reporters that they were keen to make the race as difficult as possible in the hope that Kristoff might be shaken loose ahead of the denouement, Degenkolb admitted that he felt no such obligation. “Basically I’m not in the position that I need to attack,” he said. “As long as I can follow the best guys, I don’t need to take action. But everything is possible. This is a unique race, so anything can happen.”
For the past decade, the road to victory at Paris-Roubaix has gone through Tom Boonen and Fabian Cancellara, who between them have accounted for seven of the past 10 editions of the race, but their absence through injury this year divests the other contenders of their normal reference points.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest News http://ift.tt/1HhgMAO
No comments:
Post a Comment