In 2014 John Degenkolb will again ride the Tour de France but the new year could also offer him the chance to return to his happy hunting ground in the Vuelta a Espana. Having won five stages in the 2012 edition of the race, the German sprinter will make a final decision after having finished the French grand tour.

While riding for HTC-Highroad, John Degenkolb was regarded as a very talented and versatile sprinter but it wasn't until riding the 2012 Vuelta a Espana in Argos-Shimano colours that the true extent of his potential was revealed. The talented German won no less than 5 stages in his second participation in the Spanish race and left the race as the event's dominant sprinter.

In 2013, Degenkolb was eager to ride his first Tour de France where he joined forces with the team's star sprinter Marcel Kittel. As the team was also keen to make an impact on its first Giro d'Italia and so decided to line up Degenkolb in the Italian grand tour, the German didn't return to the Vuelta in 2013.

That could change in 2014 when a third participation in the Spanish grand tour could be on the cards. While he will again be the team's undisputed leader in the cobbled classics, he will miss the Giro in the coming season after winning a stage in his debut at the event.

Having recovered from his classics campaign, he will again return to the Tour where he will share sprinting responsibilities with Kittel. While the quadruple stage winner from this year's edition of La Grande Boucle will be the preferred sprinter in the flat stages, Degenkolb will get his chance on the harder days where the climbing has ruled out his faster compatriot.

After doing the Tour, Degenkolb is contemplating a return to the Vuelta. In recent years, the Spanish grand tour has been very mountainous, prompting several top sprinters to skip the race. This could again make it a happy hunting ground for a sprinter of Degenkolb's calibre.

"I have good memories from it but I won't make a decision until after the Tour," he told Radsport News.

Degenkolb ended his season in impressive fashion by winning the major autumn classic Paris-Tours, just days after taking Paris-Bourges and two stages of the Tour de l'Eurometropole.