John Degenkolb to ride along Marcel Kittel at the Tour de France 2013
John Degenkolb of Team Argos-Shimano denied all the rumours of an internal competition between Marcel Kittel and himself for the upcoming Tour de France.
The cyclist noted that he has no problems in working with Kittel as it will ultimately help the team in posting much better results at the coming edition of the French Grand Tour.
The two Germans enjoyed a marvelous 2012 season and Kittel has already noted that he will head towards France to compete at this year’s Tour.
Degenkolb also seems interested to mark his Tour de France debut alongside his compatriot leaving all the controversies behind.
“It is a big goal for me next year, first, I hope that we make the step to the WorldTour and then we are guaranteed to be there,” he told Cycling News HD.
“If we cannot make the step (up to WorldTour status) then I hope the ASO will give us a wildcard pretty soon and then we can focus on the Tour”.
“I really would like to ride with him and to split the stages in some way. Then we could say ‘today we will ride for you and tomorrow it will be my turn’,” he concluded.
The 23-year-old has several admirable performances in the current season that can easily secure him a Tour spot.
He bagged five stages at the Vuelta a Espana, two at the Tour de Picardie, one at the Tour de Pologne and two at the Four Days of Dunkirk 2012.
Degenkolb claimed the first overall position at this year’s UCI Europe Tour, the Tour de Picardie, Grand Prix D’Isbergues, third overall at the Four Days of Dunkirk, UCI Road World Championships and the Paris-Tour 2012.
John started his professional crusade with Team HTC-Highroad in 2011 and had to find a new home after the American side announced its demise from the sports.
Despite having several top performances under his belt, the German could not secure a World Tour contract and joined the Professional Continental side, Team Project 1t4i in 2012, currently known as Team Argos-Shimano.
The team has already applied for the World Tour licence and receiving it will mean an automatic qualification to all the major cycling events of the season.
The cyclist is all set to mark his Tour de France debut with the team in the season ahead and is more likely to get his wish come true considering his lightning form.
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