Three weeks after he netted the first Monument of his career at Milano-Sanremo, John Degenkolb (Team Giant-Alpecin) captured his second at Paris-Roubaix on Sunday after outsprinting five other riders.

Degenkolb’s victory came at the end of a dusty, dry and fast edition of the Queen of the Classics, where several big crashes early on and strong headwinds saw an indecisive race materialize until late in the 253.5 kilometre Classic.

Shortly after the third last of Paris-Roubaix’s 27 cobbled sectors, the German all-rounder bridged across late to a dangerous move initiated by Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing) and Etixx-Quick Step’s Yves Lampaert. Moments later they were joined by another four riders - Lars Boom (Astana ProTeam) Lampaert’s team-mate Zdenek Stybar, Martin Elmiger (IAM Cycling) and Jens Keukeleire (Orica GreenEdge).

Degenkolb was forecast to be the strongest in the final sprint, and so it proved. As Lampaert dropped back in the velodrome, his work done, the German comfortably outpowered Stybar and Van Avermaet to claim what Degenkolb, second last year behind lone breakaway Niki Terpstra (Etixx-Quick Step) later described as “the race I’ve always dreamed of winning.”

“The team were there the whole day for me, they held the situation under control. But I had to go and get across to the other two guys, otherwise, the same outcome as last year would have happened again.”

“I attacked in the right moment, I’m so proud and happy. Winning Milan-Sanremo and Paris-Roubaix in the same year is something special too”- last achieved, in fact, by Degenkolb’s hero, Irish great Sean Kelly back in 1986.

Degenkolb’s victory sees the German move up an impressive six places in the UCI WorldTour’s individual ranking, rising from ninth to third overall. Richie Porte (Team Sky), not a participant in Paris-Roubaix, continues to head the ranking with 303 points ahead of Ronde van Vlaanderen winner Alexander Kristoff (Team Katusha) in second with 237 points.

Both Stybar and Van Avermaet also make big gains, with the Czech National Champion advancing from 24th to sixth with 152 points, whilst Van Avermaet, in seventh place, has 148 points.

Team Sky remains in the top spot on the UCI WorldTour teams classification, having gained a further 18 points to increase their leading total to 629 points. However, Etixx-Quick Step, now their closest pursuer as they move from third to second place, have reduced the British team’s advantage from its previous broad margin of 88 points to a much narrower 39. The Belgian squad now have 590 points, whilst Team Katusha, who slip from second to third, have 527 points.

Further down the UCI WorldTour teams classification, Giant-Alpecin also make an important gain, rising from ninth to sixth place with 302 points, whilst Orica GreenEdge also continue to advance overall, jumping from tenth to eighth spot with 236 points.

The UCI WorldTour nations ranking continues, through another round, to remain the most stable of all. Leaders since the first round in the Santos Tour Down Under in January, Australia are still in the top spot, with 588 points, whilst Spain remain the closest runners-up with 457 points. The Netherlands have now advanced to third with 435 points, seven more than Colombia, who drop to fourth ahead of Italy, Belgium and Great Britain.

Paris-Roubaix brings down the curtain on the cobbled Classics for another year, but the UCI WorldTour continues at full speed in the hilly Classics in the Netherlands and Belgium, starting with the Amstel Gold Race next weekend, on April 19th.