Degenkolb with historic triple

John Degenkolb of the Thüringer Energie Team has won the overall classification of the season-long German Bundesliga series. He also took the young rider classification and with Thüringer he also took the teams classification. Degenkolb was the first rider ever in the Bundesliga to win all three titles in one season.

The directeur sportif, Gerald Mortag, was impressed with the way the team of Degenkolb, Philipp Klein and Lucas Schädlich handled the last race, a track event in Büttgen. "The guys rode superbly. We had already won [the teams classification]. But when we start, we want to be ahead."

Degenkolb won all three races that he participated in. In the 3000m pursuit he used his points race bike to clock 3:31. Mortag couldn't help but but wonder about the underequipped performance. "Who knows how fast he can go with a regular time trial bike."

LKT Brandenburg and Team Ista were second and third in the teams classification. In the individual ranking, Degenkolb won ahead of Matthias Belka (LKT Brandenburg) and German U23 champion Martin Reimer (LKT Brandenburg). In the young rider classification, Degenkolb beat out Dominik Nerz (Ista) and Philipp Ries (Rothaus).

Degenkolb has also started on his international success story. He recently won the bronze medal in the U23 road race at the World Championships in Varese, Italy.