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First Year Pro Degenkolb Takes Biggest Win Yet In Top German Classic

Oct 20, 2009
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<p>Rookie professional John Degenkolb secured his third and biggest win of the 2011 season on Sunday, when he outsprinted the pack at the Rund um den Finanzplatz-Frankfurt. After his HTC-Highroad team-mates had kept the race under control in the closing kilometers of one of Germany's top Classics, Degenkolb powered across the line comfortably ahead of Belgium's Jerome Baugnies and Australian Michael Matthews.</p><p>
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Twice a podium finisher in the U-23 World Championships road-race, Degenkolb said, "I could never say I expected to win today, but I did want to get a good result and I felt good before the start."</p><p>
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"The team worked really hard in the last part to bring back a break, and I have to thank them for that. Then it was up to me."</p><p>
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"The final kilometer was pretty nervous and dangerous, there was a U-turn about 800 meters to go, but when I came out of the turn I was in a good position."</p><p>
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"There were a couple of riders ahead of me and it was a bit tricky with a chicane, but I started accelerating with about 150 meters to go and got past them."</p><p>
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"I'm very proud of this day and this result. However, it was the whole team who did a good job. I'm just the sprinter."</p><p>
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"2011 is the 50th year of this event and we've been told there were more than a million spectators watching, so it's a huge success all round," added HTC-Highroad Jens Zemke, "During the race I was a bit nervous, because there was a break of nineteen guys at one point and we didn't have anybody in it."</p><p>
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"But we did the hard work necessary to pull it back, and then John was able to finish it all off with a great win."</p><p>
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HTC-Highroad for Frankfurt: Michael Albasini (Swi) Lars Bak (Den0 Mark Cavendish (GB) John Degenkolb (Ger) Martin Velits (Svk) Peter Velits (Svk) Bernhard Eisel (Aut)</p>

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