John Degenkolb after 11th place: "I'm not done with Paris-Roubaix yet"

There is hardly a race left on the calendar in which John Degenkolb rides for his own result. His role as road captain, as a mentor, as a helper for the young riders like Casper van Uden in the dsm-firmenich PostNL team, has long since become his main task. But when the cobblestones call, the thrill of being successful himself is still there. And the performance potential too. Especially at Paris-Roubaix.

In his favourite race through the "Hell of the North", Degenkolb, now 35 years old, once again proved what he is still capable of. After the much-acclaimed result in the previous yearAfter winning in 2015, second place in the season before and another top 10 result in 2016, the Gera-born rider raced in his twelfth attempt at the with another double victory for Mathieu van der Poel and Jasper Philipsen (both Alpecin-Deceuninck) in eleventh place, another top result. An honourable result under the circumstances that Degenkolb had to come to terms with.

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John Degenkolb's "premiere" at the twelfth attempt

"I wasn't in the best shape, and then there was that stupid crash on Friday," Degenkolb told journalists after the race in the Roubaix velodrome. During the training ride with his team-mates, the experienced pro crashed on the cobbles, the traces of which were still visible on Sunday in the form of a doctored knee. A start is said to have been questionable, at least for the time being.

In the race, he also suffered a flat front wheel in the Arenberg forest. "A first, I've never had a puncture here before. That's now also part of my palmares," wrote an obviously satisfied Degenkolb on his social media channels in the evening. "Fortunately, the material is now so good that we can continue to ride to some extent, even if there is no more air in it," he had already explained in the velodrome.

Degenkolb benefited from this - but also from the bad luck of Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), who had also been hit after Arenberg. "His team drove him back to the front and therefore me as well," said the second-best German after Nils Politt (UAE Team Emirates), who finished a strong fourth, about the situation that initially threw him out of the leading group, but later brought him back in. There were still around 90 kilometres to go.

Emotions overwhelm John Degenkolb at the finish line

Degenkolb stayed where he was for another 40 kilometres. But after van der Poel set off on his solo ride in Orchies (sector 13), the pace initially increased again. Two sectors later, in the second five-star section of the day, Mons-en-Pevele, "after everything that happened, I no longer had the legs to ride at the front."

While Politt, Pedersen and Philipsen broke away to the front, Degenkolb was no longer able to gain any ground. In the end, he found himself in a group fighting for eighth place in the velodrome. "I have no regrets."

Instead, Degenkolb was once again overcome with emotion at the finish line, just like last year, as his family, wife and children waited for him on the artificial turf inside the oval. But while there were tears of disappointment in 2023 after the annoying crash in the final that prevented an even better result, this time it was mainly happiness. "It means everything to me that my family is here right now. It gives me a huge amount of extra motivation in this unrivalled race when I see them at the side of the road," said Degenkolb, after giving them all a big hug at the finish.

John Degenkolb: "Paris-Roubaix is simply made for me"

Degenkolb realised that another good day was waiting for him "as soon as he wrote in", he joked. His attempt to find an explanation for why things always go so well for him in Roubaix was a little more serious. "I don't know why, but it seems that this race is simply made for me. Or I was made for this race. This race runs through my veins." In addition to the seemingly higher powers that play a role, it is also Degenkolb's tenacity and his great strength of always being able to ride himself into the right position when things get serious that play a big part in his success. "It means everything to me to be here. And every year that I can give it my all again is everything to me. It's worth all the sacrifices I make for the sport, that the family is at the back of it. It's just great to be a part of this piece of cycling tradition."

And that should be the case again next year. "I'm not done with Paris-Roubaix yet and I'm already looking forward to the 2025 edition," he wrote.

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