Degenkolb: I needed two or three secretaries to manage all the congratulations

17 July 2018 09:07
A day after his historic Tour de France stage win, John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo) admitted that he was still coming to terms with it. The German took a highly memorable win in Roubaix on Sunday, a victory that left him visibly emotional at the finish. The former Paris-Roubaix champion had struggled for wins in recent years after a training crash in January 2016 when a car ploughed into him and several of his former Sunweb teammates, but the touching images of his post-race celebrations on Sunday have gone viral, with cycling fans across the globe offering their congratulations to a rider who has come through a tough period. On Monday's rest day near Annecy, Degenkolb was still beaming with happiness when he sat down with Cyclingnews. "I wish I could answer every call and every message on my phone but it was impossible," he said.ADVERTISEMENT "I would need two or three secretaries to manage all this but I still have about 150 unread messages. It's unbelievable. You try and call with your family and your friends and you enjoy the moment with them and of course we shared the moment as a team. It was great to see everyone so happy. "It was a huge satisfaction to get this victory. Looking back at the images and the emotions that I had after the finish, it still brings everything up inside and it's a nice feeling. It's just amazing." Degenkolb was not certain of his Tour de France spot on the eve of the race but came through a tough Tour de Suisse before making the Trek-Segafredo team. Although he has been close to a Tour stage win in the past, it had never quite worked out for the German until Sunday. Fast, but not fast enough against the pure sprinters, and having to race through the dominance of Peter Sagan, the former Milan-San Remo winner has come up short several times at the Tour. You can read more at Cyclingnews.com.read full article

Source: Cycling News