After his victories in the monuments Milan-Sanremo and Paris-Roubaix, John Degenkolb (Giant-Alpecin) recently won the German Rider of the Year award. But the 26-year-old not only showed himself in the classics as he also celebrated stage wins at the Vuelta a Espana, Bayern Rundfahrt and the Dubai Tour.

"Of course, my balance of this season is very positive. Especially with the two victories in the classics I fulfilled a childhood dream. Sometimes I still can’t believe that the cobblestone is now in my home," Degenkolb told radsport-news.com.

Already at the start of the season, the German showed good form. On the 3rd stage of the Dubai Tour, he beat no less of a figure than Alejandro Valverde in an uphill sprint. With two second places, he also did well in the Vuelta a Andalucía, followed by a third place in a stage at Paris-Nice.

While he was still without any wins in the stage races, Degenkolb hit the jackpot in the big spring classics. In Milan-San Remo, he beat defending champion Alexander Kristoff in a sprint of a 26-ruder front group and so triumphed in one of the five cycling monuments for the first time. Furthermore, he continued the German success story of the last two decades: Erik Zabel won La Primavera no less than four times between 1997 and 2001 and in 2013 Gerald Ciolek made the great coup in Sanremo.

Only three weeks later, Degenkolb impressed again. After a good seventh place in the Tour of Flanders Degenkolb probably did the race of his life at Paris-Roubaix and after a tour de force he won the "Queen of the Classics" in the famous velodrome of Roubaix when he emerged as the fastest from a 6-rider grop.

Degenkolb also wants to shine in Milan-Sanremo, the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix in 2016. "The goal is to get the best possible result at every race in this period," he announced. To get to that point in top form, the sprint and classics specialist will have a program similar to 2015. "Maybe one or two other races but the total number race days will not change," he told radsport-news.com.

Furthermore, Degenkolb wants to celebrate successes not only in the spring and autumn but also in the summer. The German is still waiting for his first Tour stage victory after he was again only second twice in this year’s La Grande Boucle. It was better at the Vuelta a Espana, where Degenkolb won the final stage in Madrid - it was his 10th stage victory in the Spanish race.

The victory in the Spanish capital allowed Degenkolb to confidently travel to the US where he wanted to conquer the rainbow jersey in the season finale at the World Championships road race in Richmond. But after an early attack, the German captain could only manage 29th. "In cycling everything really has to fall into place if you want to win. At the Worlds, I had felt good in the finale, maybe even too good, and so simply raced too offensively. In the end, that cost me too much strength, unfortunately. But these experiences are all helping me for the future," said Degenkolb.

Degenkolb will not have his next chance for the world title before 2017. On the high-speed course in Doha where the upcoming world championships are held, Degenkolb will ride in service of André Greipel and Marcel Kittel. "Next year the Worlds will certainly be something for very fast guys. In this respect I can possibly be a good domestique there," he already announced. He won’t have much better chances on the Olympic course in Rio as it is generally expected to favour climbers.

After the departure of Marcel Kittel, Giant-Alpecin will depend even more on Degenkolb in the coming season. "If Marcel is no longer there, it means of course that there will automatically be more pressure on my shoulders," he said. But that is not the only reason that Degenkolb regretted the premature separation of Kittel and Giant-Alpecin. "It is a pity that Marcel is no longer with us. I appreciate him both as a friend and teammate and he was a great inspiration for me in the sprints.”