It’s long since been rumoured that John Degenkolb would leave Giant-Alpecin for Trek-Segafredo and the move was confirmed on Friday evening in a manner that depicted the game Guess Who.
The 2015 Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix winner is to follow Alberto Contador and Jarlinson Pantano in joining the American WorldTour team for the 2017 season.
>>> Jarlinson Pantano to join Alberto Contador at Trek-Segafredo in 2017
Degenkolb, who suffered injury in a training crash in January in Spain and is only just returning to form at the Arctic Tour of Norway, is seen as Fabian Cancellara‘s replacement in the Classics, the Olympic time trial champion retiring at the end of this season.
Speculation about Degenkolb’s move to Trek has been present for several months and in a series of jovial, teasing Twitter exchanges, the announcement was finally made.
Take a look at the exchange for yourself and try really hard to see if you can guess who Trek-Segafredo’s new signing is. We only just managed to identify it…
@TrekSegafredo Alright, cool! We can help with that choice! Skinny, Emonda kind of guy?
— Trek Bicycle (@TrekBikes) August 12, 2016
@TrekSegafredo You got us there… Is he a climber?
— Trek Bicycle (@TrekBikes) August 12, 2016
@TrekSegafredo So… Domane!
— Trek Bicycle (@TrekBikes) August 12, 2016
@TrekSegafredo Ok, well, the Madone’s got IsoSpeed too. Is he any good?
— Trek Bicycle (@TrekBikes) August 12, 2016
.@TrekSegafredo Only two…?
— Trek Bicycle (@TrekBikes) August 12, 2016
.@treksegafredo Aha! Might he be German? 😉
— Trek Bicycle (@TrekBikes) August 12, 2016
.@treksegafredo Now we’re talking! Does he share his first name with @JBTrek08?
— Trek Bicycle (@TrekBikes) August 12, 2016
.@treksegafredo Then it must be @johndegenkolb!
— Trek Bicycle (@TrekBikes) August 12, 2016
Welcome to the team @johndegenkolb! pic.twitter.com/nmEVtvoJJU
— Trek-Segafredo (@TrekSegafredo) August 12, 2016
Degenkolb later posted a video message to his fans commenting on the announcement of his new squad.