Prior to the Tour of California, John Degenkolb (Giant-Alpecin) had said that he was just happy to be a cyclist again after the training accident that saw him nearly lose a finger. The German didn’t even contest the opening sprint in San Diego but by the time the race rolled into Sacramento following Sunday, he was showing signs of improvement.
An eighth place on the penultimate day was the first sign of progression and, despite finding himself without his lead-out, he would improve on that in the final sprint to take fifth behind Mark Cavendish. Degenkolb knows that there is still a long way to go but he is happy with the way he is progressing.
"That was almost Tour-level in the way that the teams approached the sprint," he told the German Radsport-News website. "We were a little too far back and then had to still move up. This gave me frankly, in the end, no teammates in front of me and was practically on the wheel of Cavendish and Kristoff. But in the sprint, I still lack the punch.
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“The sprint train is working better and better now,” Degenkolb added in a team press release. “We lost each in the last 3km but managed to find each other again. The routines are coming back, as well as the confidence to go for a result in the sprint. I really enjoyed riding with the guys again here in California.”
Degenkolb has been forced to adapt his sprinting style since that training crash in January and explained to Cyclingnews early last week that he was unable to use his injured finger when sprinting. Giant-Alpecin coach Aike Visbeek has been with the team in California and he too is happy with Degenkolb’s improvement over the past week.
“The lead-out train is starting to get things dialled in more and more now and John is also gaining fitness and confidence from this race. He has made big steps over the week,” said Visbeek.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
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