"If there is one race that I truly believe in, it is Roubaix" - Former winner John Degenkolb still dreams of Paris-Roubaix
Cycling
John Degenkolb will take on a new role with Team Picnic PostNL in 2025. The 36-year-old boasts an impressive career, highlighted by victories in both Milano-Sanremo and Paris-Roubaix in the same spring ten years ago in 2015. He has also secured stage wins in all three Grand Tours, including a whopping ten at the Vuelta a Espana.
Speaking to IDLProCycling.com, Degenkolb reflected on his continued involvement with the team. "It's still very nice to ride for this team. I've spent most of my career on this team, and it still feels like family," he shared.
"Has the team changed with the arrival of Picnic and PostNL? Yes and no. We have always been quite international, but also a combination of many Dutch and Germans. Now, not many Germans are left, only Nikias Märkl and myself, so you can see a trend."
With Romain Bardet set to retire in June, Degenkolb remains a key figure in the team’s spring classics and sprint efforts. "We understand each other. That also has to do with the fact that we have all stayed together as a team. We can all trust and know each other's strengths and weaknesses."
Degenkolb also addressed Fabio Jakobsen’s difficult first season with the team in 2024. "It's not up to me to motivate Fabio. It was a combination of several things that didn't go according to plan. I still believe he is well on his way to being competitive again and that he can win races." He elaborated, "It's a combination of things. He is more focused than in recent years, and I hope we can support him in the best possible way."
Despite his veteran status, Degenkolb embraces his leadership role. "Sometimes it is made out to be more than it is because, in the end, I am just John Degenkolb, and I try to be authentic and share the experience I have gained over the years. It is a role that I also really enjoy. And don't get me wrong: I never tell anyone they have to do something because I say so. And it helps me feel young and fresh with those young guys around me. I'm already 36 and have two years left in the sport."
Looking ahead, Degenkolb remains determined to perform at the highest level. "I still believe that - if I am healthy - I have the level to compete at the highest level. This spring will mainly be as a domestique, and then I can still take my chances occasionally.
"That way, I can focus on helping and preparing guys like Pavel Bittner and Nils Eekhoff, with whom I have a lot of faith. The gap to the top is still big in the classics, but that is not the main goal. One of these days, we just have to give it our best shot."
One race stands out in his mind. "If there is one race that I truly believe in, it is Roubaix. It is already marked in my calendar."
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- Too much amatuer psychology. How about this: "he was never as good as when he had not suffered multiple career-threatening injuries." What is happening to him is what happened to Alaphilippe, Bernal, and others. You will notice that his two major peers -- MVDP and Mads - are both at their all time best. You will also note that neither is coming off of anything like the same last 18 months that Wout is. Go back to 2022, then roll the tape forward with Wout remaining healhty and one of them having had multiple traumatic falls. Odds are good he'd be at his dominant best and they would not.MidnightRider31-03-2025
- Raymond Poulidor, Alfredo Binda.... where do we stop. If you want to retitle it is Primoz Roglic the bestr rider never to win the tour in the last ten or 20 years then that might be betterslappers6631-03-2025
- Let me help you. Alfredo BindaUpHill31-03-2025
- He'll certainly last it and prob ride his own race, at the front 😁
leedorney31-03-2025 - Gaio Primus Caesar Roglus, Rome is waiting for you, Imperator :-)).
maria2024202431-03-2025 - And he probably wasn’t even at the limit ;-) Have to wonder how much Mads could catch up if he’d tune his physique to be as sharp as MVDPs’Mistermaumau31-03-2025
- Respect for giving Van Eetvelt credit there.Mistermaumau31-03-2025
- He’s already a star for me for HAVING complained about it, the recent trend having been, let them then try to take advantage by making them sign NDAs ;-)Mistermaumau31-03-2025
- Agreed, but if it was a radio thing then all the riders should have the same story and it would be easy to call anyone out. Kind of surprised this isn’t cleared up half officially afterwards, just like the Alaphilippe divorce, seems like once something spreads on the net it kind of gets accepted that everyone wants to have their own truth so no-one bothers to contest anything that’s verifiable anymore, we all just move on.Mistermaumau31-03-2025
- maybe. what makes that a LITTLE fishy is that they suddenly hit the gas and started hammering it. even mathieu, who i’ve never heard complain about ANYTHING (other than teenage girls waking him up and being spit on by belgians) was pretty hacked off about the race tactics after the split. i think he was upset for what his teammates had to do, not for the fact he ended up isolated as a result.OCexile31-03-2025