John Degenkolb agrees transfer from Trek-Segafredo to Lotto-Soudal
John Degenkolb will join Lotto-Soudal next season after the German signed a two-year deal with the Belgian squad bringing an end to his three-years at the US-licensed Trek-Segafredo.
After earlier this week re-signing Philippe Gilbert from Deceuninck-Quick Step, the addition of Degenkolb is expected to further bolster Lotto-Soudal's classics squad following the departure of the hugely talented Tiesj Benoot who in 2020 will join Sunweb.
Marc Sergeant, sports manager at Lotto-Soudal, said on Thursday that he is hoping Degenkolb can rediscover the form that saw him win Milan-Sanremo and Paris-Roubaix in 2015 while also hinting the sprinter-cum-classics' specialist may be deployed to assist the team's young sprinter Caleb Ewan who in July won two Tour de France stages.
"With John Degenkolb and Philippe Gilbert, we managed to add two great riders to our team," said Sergeant in a team statement. "I hope that we will get to see the best Degenkolb the coming years and I am convinced that he is capable of doing so.
"John has gathered a lot of experience and a big credibility inside the peloton. He indicated that he wants to recognise and try to take opportunities, we will for sure be able to define some nice objectives, he is flexible in terms of his race schedule and he definitely wants to commit himself to Caleb Ewan."
Degenkolb's move is the latest in a long line of high-profile transfers after Tom Dumoulin on Monday confirmed his switch from Sunweb to Jumbo-Visma, while earlier this month Bahrain-Merida announced they had signed Mikel Landa from Movistar as a replacement for Vincenzo Nibali who will be joining Trek-Segafredo.
Meanwhile, Giro d'Italia winner Richard Carapaz is a doubt for the Vuelta a España gets under way in Torrevieja on Saturday, after his Movistar team revealed the Ecuadorian injured his shoulder during a crash at a Dutch criterium.
"Richard Carapaz's appearance in the race has been put in doubt by a crash last Sunday, which caused him a contusion to his right shoulder and several other bruises," Movistar tweeted on Thursday.
"A decision on his participation in the event will be taken, after pertinent assessments, on Thursday and Friday."
