"Never an option" - John Degenkolb on his record breaking number of race days without a DNF

No rider in the current peloton has gone longer without a DNF, than Team DSM-Firmenich's vastly experienced German, John Degenkolb. In total, it's 142 race days without abandoning.

“Personally, it’s actually never an option to arrive at a race [and leave early]. If I go to a race, I want to race to win. But also for me, it's never an option to quit the race before," says the 10-time Vuelta a Espana stage winner in conversation with GCN.

Given Degenkolb's prowess in the Classics, his minute tally of DNF's throughout his career is truly remarkable. “In my career, there were some days and some races where I just wouldn't be able to finish the race. For example, I tried, even twice, going to Canada, to the races there. The first race in Quebec is still doable for a rider with a profile like me. Then in Montreal, I had to DNF twice, because the race was obviously too hard," he recalls. "Obviously, you cannot always choose your programme on that factor because you have bigger goals than only finishing races. In the end, I'm not getting paid to finish races, I'm getting paid to perform in races.”

“There was only one single time in my entire career where it was the plan to quit the race early - when I did the Giro d’Italia in 2013. The plan was to only do the first part of the Giro, try to win a stage there, which we achieved, and quit the Giro early to go to altitude training in preparation for the Tour de France,” he explains. “Even though everything went according to plan, it was a strange feeling. It was not an enjoyable feeling to leave the guys behind. And I am always trying to avoid that same situation again because it is something I definitely had to experience myself and then I didn't like it."

With his non-DNF run lasting so long, it's now a personal challenge for Degenkolb to keep fighting no matter what. “Cycling is also a mental game and if you doubt yourself, your condition, or whether you're able to finish the race or not then you lose physical strength automatically. I think it's really important to keep the head up and keep the focus, the motivation. Then you can keep performing, even though your body and your legs are getting empty already."

“I remember in the Münster this year [at the Sparkassen Münsterland Giro] on October 3, I was really struggling with the weather conditions and it's like, ‘I can't stop now, I can't, I have to keep on going’,” he concludes. “It's an even bigger motivation now to keep on going and to keep the streak running but yeah, at one point, it also has to stop, I'm aware of that. But if I can extend it, I will definitely try everything to do it.”