I am looking forward to the race tomorrow. It is my second World Championship with the pros and it will surely be an exciting day. I think the race is pretty open. [more]

It is sad how some journalists can take quotes out of context and in their search for headlines don’t care how the falsely quoted person is discredited. [more]

At first I rather underestimated what it would feel like to become World Champion with the team. But simply because I didn’t know. And I can tell you: It is fantastic. [more]

In a rainy and crash-filled finale today I was unfortunately caught behind one of the crashes. The roads were extremely slippery and there were a lot of crashes on the cobblestones. [more]

As you may know, I was having some stomach problems before Eneco. Unfortunately it turned out to be worse than I thought. [more]

After working yesterday to set up the sprint for Tom Boonen, today I was captain again and after a long and confusing sprint won the Grand Prix de Fourmies. [more]

Today at the Brussels Classics I changed over to setting up the sprint, after we decided as a team to ride for Tom. Fortunately we also won – so we did everything right. [more]

For the third time this year, I had a flat tire shortly before the finish of an important race. Today it hit me in Hamburg about 1000 meter before the finish line. Hamburg, of all places! [more]

I have never before had a pedal break. But I had my premiere with this, of course on the Champs Elysees, which I would gladly have done without. I was lucky not to crash. [more]

The thought of the Champs-Élysées has carried me through the Alps the last few days. Well, not really. It was pretty hard. [more]

After a relaxed rest day in the wonderful city of Berne and a great hotel, I got through things well yesterday. Of course roads like that are the natural enemy of sprinters, but I got along well. [more]

After this windy and stormy day today it was unfortunately only enough for fifth place, although I think that more than top five would have been possible. [more]

Pure relaxation, flying blind in the mountains and hectic in the echelons. That is the quick description of the my last three days. [more]

68 km/h in the last kilometer, 75 km/h in the sprint. The finale today was once again extreme. Very hectic, lots of curves, and an enormously high speed. [more]

Today’s stage may only have had the difficulty rating of 2, but it also featured 3800 meters of climbing. [more]

Bam! That is the win. I am proud to come back like this at the Tour after my messed-up season last year. [more]

Today I went into the second Tour stage wearing the green jersey. I wore it as representative for Cav, who after his win yesterday of course was in yellow. [more]

Of course I am disappointed that I didn’t win today. But I had to ride the sprint the way I did. I was already in the wind at the 300 meter marker, otherwise the others would have boxed me in. [more]

After a year’s abstinence, I will tomorrow again be at the start of the greatest race in the world. The Tour is finally starting! [more]

Unfortunately it wasn’t enough for a win today in the German championships. I wanted more and had more in my legs. My form is really good. [more]

With an eye to the long season still to come, together with the team I have decided to leave the Giro. After the difficult past year, I started this season early to work on my comeback. [more]

Pleasure and struggle. That is how I could describe my day in pink. It was a hard race with a high tempo and very active from the start on. In the end, the profile proved to be harder than I thought. [more]

Done. Second stage win and the pink jersey at the Giro. I am happy and proud of us. The team gave everything today, to make this win possible. Thanks to the guys who tore themselves apart for me. [more]

{youtube}829bHT4ttfg?rel=0{/youtube}Bam! What a win. What a team. Many thanks to the guys. We showed a lot of morale in the finale and didn’t let ourselves get confused when it suddenly got very tight. [more]

Good legs, great mood and my girlfriend and her family along the course. Today it could really only go well for me. Frankly, I had not expected a fifth place in the prologue. [more]

Fortunately the organizers shortened the first stage of the Tour de Romandie yesterday. Right after I signed in for the stage a load of snow fell from the roof. [more]

After a few days of rest and training in Spain I am now in Switzerland. Tomorrow is the start of the Tour de Romandie, which I will use as preparation for the Giro. [more]

For the fourth time I have won the Scheldeprijs. No other rider has ever done that before. [more]

I will be present today when the course for the German Championships in Erfurt is presented and I am really happy that they are taking place in my hometown. [more]

After a nearly perfect lead out from my team today, only some 50 meters were missing for the win. Unfortunately I had to go very early into the wind, which came slanting from the front. [more]

Brrrr! Was that cold. Today was the first day on which I didn’t feel like a piece of frozen meat. The weather conditions were really crazy and I had problems with that. [more]

I am satisfied with the Volta ao Algarve, as you can imagine. Plus I also had the yellow jersey on my shoulders. [more]

Second win here in Algarve. I am of course super satisfied. The stage course was good for me. [more]

I am really proud of this win, because it was not the classic Marcel Kittel-finale, but instead it had a short climb just before the finish, which really hurt. [more]

So, after my return to Germany, here are a few more thoughts about Dubai. It was the kind of season start that you would dream of. And with a new team, to boot. [more]

Even though the second win didn’t work out today, we put in a great team performance. The guys did some super work. Many thanks to all of them. [more]

First race, first victory. I am totally happy. The Etixx-QuickStep Cycling Team was super. The train worked out. Great that it worked out with the guys directly the first time. [more]

After leaving Giant-Alpecin, I don’t want to keep you in suspense any longer: I have found a new team, which has put its trust in me and wants to support me in my goals. [more]

After a season of illness, especially the virus direct at the start and the missed races such as the Tour de France, I have a year behind me which from a sporting aspect I can only consider a major setback. [more]

There is a small change of plans for my next races. Unfortunately two days ago I could not participate in the Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen nor today at the GP Impanis-van Petegem. [more]

Finally another big race with German fans. I want to build on my performance at the Cyclassics from last year and of course do it better. A sixth place leaves room for improvement. [more]

Today was another of those days on which the sprinters had to suffer as much as the GC riders. 4000 meters of climbing is really hard for riders like me. [more]

I lost the yellow today, but I still have the sprint jersey. And I will do everything to wear in until Krakow. [more]

Even my very own 55 chainring wasn’t enough to help me sprint to the win in this 80 km/h uphill sprint. I would have had to be going 100 km/h in order to make up the missing meters. [more]

This win felt so good. After the difficult last few months, I am happy and proud that I could do it again today. I never gave up, always believed on myself and today I could rejoice again. [more]

I have reached my first goal. After the Tour de France was dead for me, I turned my total concentration on getting fit as quickly as possible so that I could be at the start of another race. [more]

There won’t be any pictures like this of me this year. My team has not nominated me for the Tour de France. [more]

In light of all the problems in the first half of the season, I am almost a little proud of the way I finished the ZLM Tour. [more]

Unfortunately I didn’t get the hoped-for top result in Rund um Köln today. But still, I won the sprint of the peloton for sixth place. [more]

My return almost ended today with a crash. Three kilometers before the finish there was a huge crash. Fortunately I fell over the guy in front of me very lightly, after fully braking and blowing out my tire. [more]

I kind of ran out of breath in the last kilometer, but I am totally satisfied with my first race after a long pause. [more]

I won’t start in the Tour of California as planned. After I noticed at the Tour de Yorkshire that after my long racing pause I still wasn’t far enough along to be competitive, [more]

I can finally be underway again with my team and the guys. After sitting out so long because of the virus, I am really happy to ride my first race since Qatar here in Yorkshire. [more]

Right now I am not in shape to ride a race. I am still suffering the aftereffects of a virus that I picked up after the Tour Down Under. [more]

After the Tour of Qatar I spent some quiet days at home in Erfurt and put in some long training sessions. It is the first time in a long time that I have worked on my basic conditioning. [more]

After I have been fighting a cold since the end of the Tour Down Under, nothing has really been going right here at the Tour of Qatar. [more]

It’s hard to do, but I am trying to keep myself awake. In a few hours we will fly to Australia, and I want to sleep on the plane, so that I can get used to the time difference. [more]

Athlete of the year 2014 in Thüringen! Thank you to everyone who voted me to this honour again, like last year. [more]

Everything has to go! Cabinets, boxes, suitcases. I have looked through all of them for cycling clothing which I no longer need. All in all, it is 100 pieces – jerseys, jackets and time trial suits. [more]

Yesterday, together with "my" fans in Thüringen and the fans of John Degenkolb and Tony Martin, I watched the file "Nieuwe Helden" in a theater. [more]

At the invitation of German Justice Minister Heiko Maas, I was in Berlin this week and was one of the first to sign a draft of the anti-doping law. [more]

There it is, the "Henne" (hen). Thank you very much for your support and the many votes. [more]

The Island is just a good place for me. Yesterday’s stage win at the Tour of Britain in London was already the fourth for me there this year. [more]

As I already said, I am not yet totally in race mode. My body just needs a bit more. That is why I was unable to defend the yellow jersey (photo) yesterday. [more]

Wow! Finally another win. The last one was a month and a half ago, when I won on the Champs Élysées. I was starting to get withdrawal ;-) [more]

I had a fairly stressful day caused by a railroad strike, which meant I had to abruptly change my plans and take my car to the airport. [more]

Nice day, nice race - but with the result I am not satisfied. To be honest, I am still really disappointed. [more]

I am really looking forward to the Vattenfall Cyclassics in Hamburg tomorrow. It will not be a emotional highlight only, but also a determination of my shape. [more]

The Arctic Race of Norway was a good start again for me after the Tour. A sprint win didn’t happen, but it was also not an easy race. [more]

After I won the last meeting with Kristoff on the Champs-Élysées (photo), today’s battle went definitely to him. [more]

Pretty unusual, how I was introduced here at the Arctic Race of Norway: as a teutonic titan. [more]

Four stage wins, the yellow jersey, the green jersey and winning both the first and last stages – what a super Tour! [more]

The thunder and lightning during the stage were really spooky. It was a very dangerous stage because of the incredible amount of rain and the winding roads. [more]

Well, the timing with my sprint preparer Tom Veelers didn’t work out all today – he came to the finish before me! He was next-to-last and I was the last one on the stage. ;-) [more]

Six days to go and still two chances for winning a sprint. But it will really be a hard last Tour week. The Pyrenees are waiting for us, and it all starts today. [more]

If everything goes according to plan, then there should be another sprint again today. The stage is relatively flat, but the wind may be a problem. [more]

I am tired and when I think of the mountains tomorrow, I am even more tired. So there will only be a short update today, I have to save my strength ;-) [more]

Today was all up and down. It was like a roller coaster but we still managed to put in a pace of 50 in the first hour of racing. This day really hurt! I am all in now. [more]

"I like your hair!" I heard that a lot today in the finale. Despite the rain, there were a lot of people there, presenting us with a really great spectacle. [more]

The lost chance for a further stage win at the Tour is bitter, but I was simply not fresh enough in the finale. We controlled the race the entire time, but made a few mistakes when Omega took over in the finale. [more]

We had big plans today, but things worked out other than planned. The crashes started even before the cobblestone passages. Dege and I were involved. [more]

I think I must be crazy. Third stage win at the Tour de France. That is absolutely crazy. But I must say, that today was the most difficult of the three sprints. [more]

If I had messed up this sprint today, my teammates would probably have skinned me alive. That was a perfect sprint. Super wide road, slightly descending run-into the finish, mega-fast, a perfect lead-out. [more]

Unfortunately I must separate from my new bike, it was only a short affair. A wonderful day in yellow is coming to an end. Actually, it is just like last year. [more]

That was the most emotional win of my career. I cannot describe, how the team sacrificed itself for me and threw itself into the race. Sure, I knew this feeling. [more]

What a presentation. It is fantastic, the way we have we have been welcomed here on the island. The mood was sensational, with thousands of enthusiastic people. [more]

As in the past championships, it once again did not work out with a good placing. Like last year, cramps stopped me. I don’t know why it happened. [more]

I won this stage last year, but today it didn’t go optimally. We had communication problems and never really got together. [more]

I am happy, proud and, frankly, relieved to have won today. I am happy that I could directly return so successfully to racing after the altitude training. [more]

Unfortunately I had to watch today's stage from my hotel bed. I caught a cold on the rainy stages in Ireland, have a fever and am very sorry that I already have to pack my suitcase without having ridden in Italy. [more]

What a day. It is my birthday and there was this crazy sprint final. I am so glad that I did not give up today and took the stage win out of this worthless position. [more]

Awesome. It worked. A stage win at the Giro. I'm so delighted that the pressure is all gone at the beginning of the Giro already. [more]

As from today I have the chance, to become one of those great riders, who have won a stage at all three Grand Tours. [more]

When you have good legs, you can have a lot of fun. And so the prologue today was really a lot of fun. These short time trials suit me. [more]

I am so happy with this victory. After de Panne I was pretty upset, because I had good legs but was missing that necessary bit of luck. [more]

The hoped-for sprint win unfortunately didn't work out. This morning a mistake took away all my chances. But my sixth place in the time trial showed that I am doing well now. [more]

I felt really good today, but when Sagan attacked on the Eikemolen about 10 km before the finish, I was too far back and not close enough to possibly go with the attack. [more]

The time trial went just fine. But of course it didn't really matter for me. It was more like, put in a few kilometers and enjoy the sun. [more]

I have never before ridden up as steep a mountain as the one today. Not in training, not in competition – never. Actually I wanted to throw away my full bidon but I didn't trust myself to let go of the handlebars. [more]

Today I played the cavalier to my bike. After the little difference of opinion yesterday between my and my beloved bike, I tried today to bring our relationship back in order. [more]

Unfortunately I couldn't take part in the sprint today. About two and a half kilometers before the finish my handlebars broke and I crashed. Fortunately I wasn't injured. [more]

We had intended to do more, but our low placement today didn't really upset the mood in the team, so we still have good morale to take on tomorrow's stage. [more]

After the rain-and-snow battle last year, it looks like this will be a friendlier edition of Tirreno-Adriatico. The weather here is good, although it was actually a little warmer at home in Erfurt when I left there. [more]