Having suffered from a muscle injury since stage 5, John Degenkolb made a remarkable comeback when he finished second in today's stage of the Tour de France. Despite having narrowly missed out on the victory, the German was pleased to be back in form and is ready to go for glory again tomorrow.

John Degenkolb has sprinted to second place on the 11th stage of the Tour de France after Tony Gallopin kept just enough of a gap to take the win. At the finish line Degenkolb was just metres off taking his first every Tour de France stage but it is a strong return to action after spending the second half of last week suffering after a heavy fall on stage five.

Degenkolb was part of a small front group at the end of the rolling stage together with Tom Dumoulin who was once again proving his strength on these tough stages. Degenkolb fought hard to make it over the three categorised climbs in the latter stages of the race and then Dumoulin helped to bring him back to the front and into position for the impending group sprint behind Tony Gallopin (Lotto-Belisol) who just had enough power to hold off the group in the final kilometres.

With the stage profile suiting a breakaway there was a fight to get in the move that stuck. Dries Devenyns was one of the early protagonists but his four man move did not stick. Eventually three riders moved clear and that was that for the day as their gap quickly grew to six minutes.

After the stage Team Giant-Shimano coach Aike Visbeek said: “We had two plans going into the stage, one to see how John was feeling and if he was good then to ride for him, and secondly if he was not great then to go with Dries and Tom D in the moves at the end or in a big early break if this happened.

“We were still a bit concerned about John and how he was this morning but early in the race he gave the signal that he was good and we decided to ride for him. The team positioned him for the climbs and then he had to dig deep on the final categorised climb to stick with the front group but he made it over the top together with Tom and was there at the end.

“It was a shame to be so close to the win but it is great to know that John is feeling good again and back in action. The rest day did him good and it has been a remarkable comeback.”

Degenkolb himself added: “I knew how strong Tony was when he was out front but I kept believing. Tom did a great job for me in helping me get back to the front but in the end we came up just short.

“The good thing is that I am back feeling good again and the damaged muscle is getting better. I think I have endured the hardest week in my cycling career both mentally and physically but the morale is good now and today gives me a lot of confidence to move on and look for other opportunities.

"It was close. We only missed one hard turn and that was it. I really believed in my chances. Of course, I saw Tony Gallopin was at the front. He was very strong. Congrats to him.

"The good news was that I didn't feel the pain as much today. It was the hardest week of my career on a bike. Tomorrow I will try again because that second place really gave me my self confidence back" 

Tom Dumoulin, who eventually came over the line in 40th place, added: “John slipped back a bit on the final unclassified climb before the descent to the finish so over the top we worked hard to get back to the front of the race, riding through the splits in the bunch.

“Unfortunately the chase at the end started too late and we weren’t able to bring Gallopin back in time but it’s great that John is feeling better again.”

One of the day’s early attackers, Devenyns said after the stage: “Three riders got away in the opening kilometres and I had to do an all out effort to bridge across. We had a nice little gap but the peloton decided it was too early and we were brought back.

“Later on I was helping the team where I could and with the temperature very high I went back to the car for bottles a couple of times and this took quite a bit of effort.Then on the last climb I got caught hop behind a crash and that was it. I lost contact with the front group and couldn’t get back to John’s group.”