John Degenkolb was not convinced of his chances to win the sprint at the end of stage 3 of the Dubai Tour. But when his teammates insisted they should lead him out, and did an excellent job of it, he finished their work off perfectly, giving Trek-Segafredo its first sprint win of 2017. It was the team's second success of the early season after Bauke Mollema’s overall victory at the Vuelta San Juan in Argentina.
"Races are also mental games, and of course I want to be a success, so it's important to get support from the team. In the end, you win these races in your head. It was great the team kept believing in me even though I didn't feel super great after the sand storm," Degenkolb said, clearly ecstatic to have broken the ice and taken his first win for his new team.
"It was amazing, we had a great lead out that was perfectly timed and I could jump on [Dimenson Data's Reinardt Janse Van] Rensburg's wheel and luckily in the last few metres I could also overtake him."
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The celebration was in stark contrast to this day last year when Degenkolb had major surgery to save his finger after being hit by a car while training with his team in Spain. Now he is one of the first winners of the new season and on track for an excellent Classics campaign.
Trek-Segafredo had asserted control over the first two sprints at the Dubai Tour, but Degenkolb finished fourth on both occasions behind former teammate Marcel Kittel. This time, a more rolling and twisting finish and then a rise to the line suited Degenkolb's sprint skills and he won it with a perfectly-timed bike throw.
A shot at overall victory
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