“I can be proud of it”
Cycling star Degenkolb narrowly misses the European Championship crown
September 24, 2023, 6:24 p.m
John Degenkolb was not rewarded with a medal for his strong performance at the European Road Cycling Championships. The 34-year-old still can’t be sad after 199.8 kilometers in Wijster, Netherlands. Rather, he appears proud and amazed.
Veteran John Degenkolb missed out on a surprising medal at the European Cycling Championships in the Drenthe region of the Netherlands. The 34-year-old from Gera, who was in a promising position shortly before the decision, ended up in eighth place when Frenchman Christophe Laporte won. The Belgian Wout van Aert came second, the bronze went to Olav Kooij from the Netherlands.
“I can be proud of how we drove as a team. We tried to stay in a good position throughout the whole race,” said Degenkolb after the 199.8 km at Eurosport: “The guys at the front are on a different level. It’s fantastic to see how strong a body like that can be.”
Laporte made the decisive attack twelve kilometers from the finish at the “Col du Vam”, the Wijster landfill. His pursuers around van Aert came close to his rear wheel again, but Laporte could no longer be overtaken.
Other German drivers play no role
At the finish, Laporte dedicated the title, among others, to Nathan Van Hooydonck, his teammate on the Dutch Jumbo Visma team. The 27-year-old announced on Wednesday that he was retiring due to heart problems after suffering a faint attack while driving and causing a serious accident.
The other German drivers had nothing to do with the decision at the top. Jonas Koch was 16th (+0:40 minutes), Felix Engelhardt 20th (0:52) and Max Walscheid ended up in 33rd place (+3:09).
A good 30 kilometers from the finish, the last escapees had been caught. Shortly afterwards, Kim Heiduk’s fall tore the field apart. The man from Herrenberg got stuck on the edge of the road and dragged several riders to the ground, including his colleague from the professional team Ineos Grenadiers, the two-time time trial world champion Filippo Ganna. Until then, the Italian and his team had set the pace.