John Degenkolb’s Tour de France is over almost before it even began with the German forced out of the race after missing the time cut on stage 1.
Degenkolb was involved in a crash during a brutally tough opening stage in Nice that saw the race littered with falls due to heavy rain and slick road conditions. At one point the riders even neutralized the stage but even an easing in pace wasn’t enough for Degenkolb to make it back to the peloton.
His fall, alongside Ewan, left the German with too many injuries and while the Australian was able to mount a comeback and even finish in 19th place, there was no such joy for Degenkolb, who finished wet, alone and over the time limit. He finished just under 18 minutes behind stage winner Alexander Kristoff, and roughly three minutes over the limit.
“Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose,” he wrote on Instagram after receiving a quick examination of his wounds that included a cut knee and elbow on his right side. The German is currently undergoing scans.
“Today I lost all... all I worked and trained for in this special 2020. A crash took us, Caleb me and a lot of other riders on the wet ground and destroyed all my dreams.. destroyed my Tour on day one... with open knees I could finish with a lot of pain the stage ,alone, with a more than 18 minutes delay but obviously I am far out of the timelimit.. of course it‘s frustrating as hell but that’s the brutal reality of cycling.. sad.
Cyclingnews has learned from Lotto Soudal that they tried to appeal the decision of the race jury but that their attempt was declined.
