All eyes were on local hero John Degenkolb in today's Rund um den Finanzplatz and this forced his Giant-Shimano team on the defensive as they were expected to carry the main workload in the long race. In the end, Degenkolb paid the price for a hard race when he was beaten into second by Alexander Kristoff.

John Degenkolb has sprinted to second place in his home race the Rund um den Finanzplatz Eschborn-Frankfurt.

Through heavy rain and testing conditions, John and Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) battled it out in a sprint finish, with Kristoff getting the better of Degenkolb on the line.

The day started in very wet conditions and also very slippery on the city roads, which played into the hands of a large breakaway that got away early on. Ten riders broke clear and with the number too high for the team, they set about a long and hard chase to bring them back.

In an impressive display of control, they managed this and got some help from other teams as the roads became harder in the closing stages, keeping the race together for a bunch sprint.

At the finish, the win was only going to fall to either Degenkolb or Kristoff, and it was the Norwegian who got the better of the home favourite.

Team Giant-Shimano coach, Rudi Kemna said after the finish:

“The plan was to control the race and go for a sprint in a bigger group with John, but the break was too big and we spent a lot of energy bringing them back before the difficulties at the end of the race.

“On the contrary, the guys worked really hard to bring it back and it was impressive the way in which they did this as everyone was looking to us with it being John’s home race. Other teams helped to control the bunch and keep it together in the latter stages and we had Johannes [Fröhlinger] riding too.

“In the final kilometre John had the good wheel of Kristoff, but he missed that extra kick that he needed to go over the top and get past him. Overall it was a good performance from the team and it was never going to be easy.”