John Degenkolb

I am John Degenkolb, some of you call me „Dege“. I am born at the 7th of January in 1989 in Gera, grown up in a little village in Bavaria called Weißenburg. Right now I am feeling like a citizen of Frankfurt, even though I’m living in Oberursel a little town in the neighborhood.

I was infected with the cycling virus when I was young. After a short – and a failure attempt – carrier in soccer, my dad put me on a bike for the first time when I was seven. I attended a race and won directly, although I was pretty nervous. And of course I coundn’t resist any more.
My parents were the first who supported me, drove me to the races and cheered for my wins and helped me to stand up after a defeat. Their enthusiasm and also the hours of training, effort and ambition are the reasons for my most important victories.

Then I changed to the „Thüringer Energie“ Team. In that time I passed at well my training as a policeman. In 2011 I signed my first pro contract with HTC Highroad. And then one comes to another: Giant-Shimano, Team Giant-Alpecin and since this year with Trek-Segafredo. There I want to continue to add more victories to my palmares, my 43 pro wins. Still special for me are the 11 stage wins at the Vuelta and the Giro, as well as the two monuments Milan – San Remo and Paris – Roubaix. I will never forget the moment recieving the Paris – Roubaix trophy – the cobble stone – in the Velodrome. That day one of my biggest dream become reality.

That’s why I work really hard every day to relive these moments.

But for sure – for a cycling pro there is a life beneath the bicycle. The most important thing next to the many traval days, is to spend time with my family and friends. And of course my hobbies, which I cannot do during the season. For example riding my motorcycle, complete my vinyl collection, go to concerts or just meet friends in my favourite restaurants and bars in downtown Frankfurt.

If you want to know more, here you can see my current news about races, my team and other infos. Feel free to follow my facebook, instagram or twitter account. I am happy when you are around at the races and cheer and scream from the tracks.

Yours Dege.