John Degenkolb wins Paris-Bourges

German sprinter John Degenkolb (Giant-Shimano) has added another win to his impressive list of 2014 victories, taking the bunch sprint at the end of Paris-Bourges on Thursday.

Degenkolb out-paced Yauheni Hutarovich (Ag2r) and Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek Factory Racing) to successfully repeat his win from 2013 in the 190.3-kilometre, UCI 1.1-ranked race.

Degenkolb adds Paris-Bourges to his victories in Ghent-Wevelgem, three stages of the Tour of the Mediterranean, a stage of Paris-Nice and four stages of the Vuelta a Espana along with the points classification. He also placed second in Paris-Roubaix behind Niki Terpstra (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) in what has been his most successful season to date, during which he has proved his versatility.

Degenkolb’s season nearly ended early after an infection flared up as a result of an injury sustained during the Vuelta. He ended up in hospital on antibiotics and missed the team time trial event with Giant-Shimano at the world championships. He bounced back to place ninth in the elite men’s road race.

Result
Paris-Bourges, 190.3km
1. John Degenkolb (Ger) Giant-Shimano in 4-25-58
2. Yauheni Hutarovich (Blr) Ag2r La Mondiale
3. Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek Factory Racing
4. Baptiste Planckaert (Bel) Roubaix Lille Metropole
5. Jean-Pierre Drucker (Lux) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
6. Mickael Delage (Fra) FDJ.fr
7. Antoine Demoitie (Bel) Wallonie-Bruxelles
8. Vicente Reynes Mimo (Spa) IAM Cycling
9. Matti Breschel (Den) Tinkoff-Saxo
10. Cyril Lemoine (Fra) Cofidis all same time