One-day races and Classics Other John Degenkolb (born 7 January 1989) is a German professional road bicycle racer, who rides for UCI WorldTeam Team Picnic PostNL.

[6][7] In 2011, Degenkolb turned professional with the UCI World Tour HTC–Highroad squad, following in the footsteps of other notable sprinters such as Mark Cavendish and André Greipel.

Degenkolb came around Daniele Bennati, who had opened a decent gap in the last 200 m (660 ft), and crossed the line with a slight margin over the RadioShack–Nissan rider.

[11] 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.

[12] 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 FDJ–BigMat.

[13] 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.

[14] Degenkolb followed these successes with another sprint victory at the Grand Prix d'Isbergues[15] and a fourth place in the hilly UCI Road World Championships in Valkenburg, behind winner Philippe Gilbert of Belgium.

[17] 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.

[23] 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.

[28] 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.

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

[41] When his teammate Tom Dumoulin unexpectedly challenged for the overall win, Degenkolb worked for the Dutchman, including an "astounding"[42] performance during stage 19.

On the mountainous terrain, he was able to stay with the top twenty riders of the pack until the end, setting up Dumoulin for an attack at the cobbled ascent to the finish line in Ávila.

"[53] Degenkolb rounded up his 2015 season with a victory at the Saitama Criterium in Japan, beating local Fumiyuki Beppu (Trek Factory Racing) and Tour de France winner Chris Froome (Team Sky) in a sprint finish.

[55] Degenkolb himself suffered cuts to the thigh, forearm and his lips, as well as coming close to losing his left index finger.

[59] He then attended the Tour of California, where he secured two top-ten stage finishes, declaring that he was happy with his progress, even though his injured finger was still a nuisance during sprints.

[60] He showed further improvement at the Critérium du Dauphiné, his first World Tour event of the year, finishing eighth on stage 4.

[72] Degenkolb took his first victory of the 2017 campaign on 2 February at the third stage of the Dubai Tour, edging out Reinardt Janse van Rensburg and Sonny Colbrelli in a bunch sprint.

"[79] Degenkolb finished third at his home race, Eschborn–Frankfurt – Rund um den Finanzplatz at the beginning of May, having been delayed by a mechanical problem for leadout man Jasper Stuyven during the final sprint.

17 km (11 mi) from the finish, he followed an attack by Yves Lampaert and Greg Van Avermaet over the Camphin-en-Pévèle cobbled sector.

A visibly emotional Degenkolb dedicated the victory to a late family friend, who he described as his "second father" and who had died the previous winter.

[105] On the Carrefour de l'Arbre cobbled sector, he collided with eventual winner Mathieu van der Poel and fell, bruising his left shoulder.

[111] In October 2018, he became the first official ambassador for "Les Amis de Paris–Roubaix", a volunteer group which acts to preserve the course and nature of the Paris–Roubaix classic race, which Degenkolb won in 2015.

[112] In early 2019, Degenkolb launched a fundraising campaign to save the existence of the Paris–Roubaix Juniors race, the edition of Paris–Roubaix for riders under 19 years of age.