Degenkolb tops stage two sprint

John Degenkolb proved to have the fastest legs in Bad Gögging, Germany, on the second stage of the Bayern Rundfahrt. HTC-Highroad's young German sprinter beat Skil-Shimano's Marcel Kittel, with race leader Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky) in third place. Boasson Hagen retained his overall lead.

The win meant a lot to Bavarian native Degenkolb. “I am overjoyed and give a 100 percent thank-you on my teammates, who rode fantastically.  After Frankfurt, this is my biggest win, because the top names are at the start and that makes a win so highly rated.”

Degenkolb has three earlier wins this year, including Rund um dn Finanzplatz Eschborn-Frankfurt.

Boasson Hagen as happy enough with third place, since his team “had to hold the field together and that cost a lot of energy.  The team worked hard, and I opened the

Team Sky lost two riders today, as Serge Pauwels and Michael Rogers both had to abandon with stomach problems.

The escape group of the day formed within the first 20 km. Gatis Smukulis (HTC-Highroad), Matthias Bertling (Team Eddy Merckx Indeland) and, for the second consecutive day, NSP's Markus Eichler got away and built up a lead of up to 8:30, which put Eichler in the vitual leader's jersey.

The stage had a rolling start leading to a flattish middle section, before hitting two ranked climbs. Eichler, perhaps as a result of his second long escape, fell back on the first climb but was able to fight his way back to the front.

He couldn't hold on, though, and the peloton caught him shortly after the second climb, and at km 175, the other two were caught, too. Smukulis attacked again and had a lead of up to one minute.

During the first of two laps of the closing circuit course, Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) and Dimitri Claeys (NetApp) attacked. They easily caught and passed Smukulis, who fell back into the field. They too were caught however, with two km to go, and HTC and Sky led the way to the mass sprint.

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