John Degenkolb wins the stage 5 of the Vuelta a Espana 2012
John Degenkolb of Team Argos-Shimano bagged his second stage win at the Vuelta a Espana 2012 after his remarkable performance during the 168 kilometre event.
The cyclist completed the race in a quickest time of 4 hours, 10 minutes and 37 seconds and restricted his major opponents.
Daniele Bennati of Team RadioShack-Nissan, Gianni Meersman of Team Lotto Belisol, Nacer Bouhanni of Team FDJ-Big Mat and Elia Viviani of Team Liquigas-Cannondale occupied the second, third, fourth and the fifth positions respectively.
His previous Vuelta victory came during the second stage of the race and he was delighted after bagging two stages at the third Grand Tour race of the season.
The German told Radsport-News.com, “This early victory takes the pressure off the team. Our minimum goal was a stage win, and it is great that we got it directly on the second stage”.
“My whole team did super work and brought me on to the rear wheels of Davis and Swift, so that we in the end only had a three-man sprint”.
“I was the strongest and could take it, but actually it is a win for the whole team. It is one of the best teams when the job is setting pu sprints, whether it is for Marcel Kittel or for me”.
The 23-year-old bagged 25 important UCI points after the fifth stage of the race and occupied the top position. John also leads the point’s classifications with a total number of 50 points to his credit, with Allan Davis and Simon Clarke at the second and the third positions.
Daniele Bennati, Gianni Meersman, Nacer Bouhanni and Elia Viviani achieved the next four spots with 20, 16, 14 and 12 points respectively.
John opened his 2012 winning account with a stage 1 victory at the Tour de Picardie and also managed to secure the top overall position at the race.
He also claimed stages at the Tour de Pologne and the Four Days of Dunkirk along with a third overall finish at the event.
Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver of Team Katusha currently leads the stage 5 classifications with a total time of 17 hours, 29 minutes and 22 seconds.
Christopher Froome of Team Sky Procycling is 1 second behind at the second position with Alberto Contador Velasco of Team Saxo Bank further 4 seconds behind at the third spot.
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