John Degenkolb

He became the first German to win the race since Josef Fischer won the inaugural edition in 1896, and the first rider to win Milan–San Remo and Paris–Roubaix in the same year since Sean Kelly in 1986.

In May, Degenkolb took two stage victories at the Bayern–Rundfahrt, winning the points classification.

During the Tour de France, Degenkolb replaced an unfit Kittel as Giant–Alpecin's main sprinter and team captain.

He would go on to describe his Tour as "satisfactory, yet not exactly what I had dreamed about", after placing in the top ten at eight different stages without winning one of them.

John Degenkolb (born 7 January 1989) is a German professional road bicycle racer, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam.

In 2010 he won his first stage race, the Thüringen Rundfahrt der U23, and finished second in the under 23 race at the UCI Road World Championships.

In 2011, Degenkolb turned professional with the UCI World Tour squad, following in the footsteps of other notable sprinters such as Mark Cavendish and André Greipel.

In his debut season in the professional ranks he won stages at the Volta ao Algarve, the Three Days of West Flanders and the Bayern–Rundfahrt before winning two stages of the Critérium du Dauphiné.

He also won the Eschborn–Frankfurt – Rund um den Finanzplatz one day race.

Following the disbanding of the HTC team at the end of 2011, Degenkolb moved to UCI Professional Continental team,.

Degenkolb won the overall classification of the Tour de Picardie, where he prevailed in the first and third stages of the 3-stage race.

The time bonuses helped him secure the overall win.

On 19 August, Degenkolb took his first stage win on a Grand Tour, stage 2 of the Vuelta a España concluding in Viana.

On the slightly rising finish, he crossed the line before Allan Davis of and 's Ben Swift.

He repeated the exploit on stage 5, a flat affair in Logroño.

Degenkolb came around Daniele Bennati, who had opened a decent gap in the last 200 m, and crossed the line with a slight margin over the rider.

With the points classification jersey on his shoulders, he took his third win on stage 7, which came to an end with a lap around the Motorland Aragón race circuit.

After what he qualified as a pretty mellow race on stage 10, Degenkolb came out as the victor again in Sanxenxo, sprinting hard on the uphill false-flat, edging Frenchman Nacer Bouhanni of.

He finished the Vuelta with five victories, including the coveted last stage in Madrid, where he concluded his second participation in a Grand Tour with another win.

Degenkolb followed these successes with another sprint victory at the Grand Prix d'Isbergues and a fourth place in the hilly UCI Road World Championships in Valkenburg, behind winner Philippe Gilbert of Belgium.

Degenkolb's credentials in 2013 started in May with a stage victory at the Giro d'Italia, his first win in the Italian Grand Tour.

For the Tour de France, Degenkolb acted as a lead-out man for his teammate Marcel Kittel, who won four stages.

Degenkolb then went on to win the Vattenfall Cyclassics World Tour race in his homeland, beating André Greipel to the line.

In October, Degenkolb won two races on French soil in less than a week, Paris–Bourges and then the 1.HC Paris–Tours.

Degenkolb also took victory in the 2014 Gent–Wevelgem, the 2013 Vattenfall Cyclassics and was the overall winner of the 2012 UCI Europe Tour.

In 2014, Degenkolb most notably won the Belgian classic Gent–Wevelgem ahead of Arnaud Démare and Peter Sagan.

During the Paris–Nice stage race, he won stage 3 from a bunch sprint, temporarily taking over the race lead, and went on to win the overall points classification.

He also earned the points classification and 3 stages of the Tour Méditerranéen and 4 stages of the Vuelta a España.

The first stage he won contained two categorised climbs and was raced in oven-like heat.

The second one was a massive sprint where FDJ rider Nacer Bouhanni complained he had been unfairly pushed to the barriers by Degenkolb, who still retained the victory.

The third success was a 'crazy finish' according to Degenkolb, who had the better of second placed Tom Boonen.

The fourth victory came on Stage 17 and saw him edge Michael Matthews for the line.

Right after the Vuelta and conquering the points classification jersey, Degenkolb had to be hospitalized for a lymphatic infection.

He grabbed the biggest victory of his career at that point in March at Milan–San Remo, where he won the sprint in front of 2014 winner Alexander Kristoff.

In April, he finished seventh at the Tour of Flanders, before winning the much coveted classic Paris–Roubaix just a few days later.

In the final kilometres, he bridged the gap to two escapees and eventually won a group sprint of seven riders in the Roubaix Velodrome.

His biggest wins to date are the 2015 Milan–San Remo and the 2015 Paris–Roubaix, two of cycling's five monuments.

He is a winner of stages in all three Grand Tours, with ten stages and the points classification at the Vuelta a España, one stage of the Giro d'Italia, and one stage in the Tour de France.

In 2015, Degenkolb won his first race at the Dubai Tour, the third stage of the race, beating Alejandro Valverde up a 17 percent gradient final climb.

He also moved into the lead of the general classification, but lost it on the final day to Mark Cavendish, finishing the race in second overall.