John Degenkolb leads the UCI Europe Tour after his fourth place finish at the Paris-Tours 2012
John Degenkolb of Team Argos-Shimano might have failed to secure a podium spot at the Paris-Tours 2012 but the cyclist’s fourth place finish was enough to earn him a top spot at the UCI Europe Tour.
Marco Marcato of Team Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling wins the event after he completed the race in an impressive time of 4 hours, 50 minutes and 34 seconds.
Laurens De Vreese of Team Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator finished second with Niki Terpstra of Team Omega Pharma-Quick Step holding the third position.
Degenkolb was a pre-race favourite and he did justice to expert’s opinions by showing some tremendous legs during the 235.5 kilometre race.
However, the German could not claim any better than the fourth position after he finished the race 6 seconds behind the race leader.
"I understood this group was going for the victory but there were still three guys at the front," the German told Cyclingnews.
"I was following Van Avermaet but since I was the strongest in the group, I tried because I only had one team-mate left with me”.
“But probably I wasn't strong enough. You always have to try. I'm not devastated. It's still a fourth place in a big classic”.
“After the fourth place at the world championship, it's not a bad way to conclude my season".
Final UCI Europe Tour rankings have not yet been published but the cyclist will finish at the top spot with a total number of 596 points, ahead of his teammate Marcel Kittel.
The 23-year-old enjoyed a remarkable 2012 season with as many as 12 victories to his credit including an overall victory at the Tour de Picardie 2012.
He also bagged two stages at the Tour de Picardie, five at the Vuelta a Espana, one at the Tour de Pologne and two at the Four Days of Dunkirk.
John finished third overall at the Four Days of Dunkirk, fourth at the UCI Road World Championships, fifth at the Milan-San Remo and achieved the sixth position at the E3 Harelbeke 2012.
Degenkolb was delighted on the achievement and noted that he worked really hard all through the year and his hard work has been paid.
The cyclist also managed to occupy the fourth overall position at the UCI Road World Championships after he fell five seconds short of the race leader, Philippe Gilbert at the Road Race event.
Gilbert took a total time of 6 hours, 10 minutes and 41 seconds to occupy the top podium position during the 261 kilometre Elite Men Road Race.
Norwegian cyclist, Edvald Boasson Hagen finished 4 seconds behind at the second position with the Spanish cyclist Alejandro Valverde finishing further one second behind at the third position.
Top fifteen finishers after the UCI Road World Championships, Elite Men Road Race are as below,
1
Philippe Gilbert (Belgium)
6:10:41
2
Edvald Boasson Hagen (Norway)
0:00:04
3
Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spain)
0:00:05
4
John Degenkolb (Germany)
5
Lars Boom (Netherlands)
6
Allan Davis (Australia)
7
Thomas Voeckler (France)
8
Ramunas Navardauskas (Lithuania)
9
Sergio Luis Henao Montoya (Colombia)
10
Oscar Freire Gomez (Spain)
11
Rui Costa (Portugal)
12
Tom Boonen (Belgium)
13
Oscar Gatto (Italy)
14
Peter Sagan (Slovakia)
15
Fredrik Carl Wilhelm Kessiakoff (Sweden)
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