At Team Sky, Christian Knees is the long epitome of a loyal domestique. Since 2011 he has put his personal ambitions aside and supported his captains Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome best possible way.

However, at the German road championship in Bensheim, the 34-year-old had a free ride. The German champion from 2010 was unable to take a celebrate a second title but with sixth place in the road race and fifth in the time trial he proved that he belongs to the best Germans in both disciplines.

Knees delivered a particularly impressive performance in the road race where he was without any teammates but was unable to follow the decisive attack of the later German Champion Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Argon 18). 

"As Buchmann went, I took off in pursuit, but could not close the gap. Earlier in the race,  had never had a time to rest and often attacked. I was too aggressive. I missed that energy in the final lap,” said the 34-year-old gave in an interview with radsport-news.com.

For his Sky team, Knees was again a reliable domestique in races like the cobbled classics in March/April and in May at the Tour of California. In North America, he even finished in a decent 26th place overall and Knees also showed good shape in the Tour de Suisse in June. Nonetheless, he was the final rider to be deleted from the Sky line-up for the Tour.

“That I missed the Tour was a shame for me personally, but in this team it is quite an achievement to be so close to selection," Knees said.

Instead, the former Milram professional was selected for the Vueltawhere Tour winner Froome led the Sky line-up – at least until the 11th stage when the Briton was forced to retire due to injury. "Unfortunately we lost Froome very early. But I think we have tried everything in spite of his withdrawal, and with Nicolas Roche we also got our deserved stage win," said Knees who was satisfied with the Vuelta outcome.

After the Vuelta, Knees enjoyed a last highlight of the season for him as he was selected for the World Championships by the German Cycling Federation (BDR) – to play a domestique role of course. "It was a highlight for me to be at the start with a very motivated and strong team there. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the result we had hoped for,” said Knees about his final race of the 2015 season.

The program for the coming season still has to be finalized but Knees already has two important appointments. "First of all the cobbled classics are on my list, and I also have the Giro on my mind."