Marcel Kittel was left fuming after crossing the finish line in second place on stage 2 of the Tour de Pologne on Monday. The German was angry with the way that stage winner Matteo Pelucchi opened up his sprint and while the Italian raised his arms in celebration, behind him Kittel raised his in remonstration.
There was a pile-up inside 200 metres caused by a touch of wheels between Caleb Ewan and Sacha Modolo but when Pelucchi and Kittel came through unscathed, the German felt that his rival deviated from his line, coming across from left to right and even touching his handlebars.
“I don’t want to be a bad loser, but in my opinion – and maybe he will never agree with me – it was unnecessary that he came so far to the right, because you normally have to hold your line and I think it was unnecessary what he did there. It was not a good way to sprint for the finish. I will definitely watch the video replay tonight,” Kittel told reporters after a trip to the podium to once again pull on the leader’s yellow jersey.
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Kittel exchanged words with Pelucchi once both men had come to a standstill. While Pelucchi insisted there wasn’t a problem, Kittel did not try to play down any conflict but had adopted a more philosophical take on events by the time he reached the mixed zone.
“I told him and I think I had the right to tell him. If he has another opinion he can also tell me that. I said that he has to hold his line, it’s not ok to come so much to the right. It’s about having an argument about it, and maybe coming to a conclusion.
“But it’s ok, it’s a sprint, it’s full of emotions and also that crash happened, I was lucky to avoid it and I thought I could still go for the win. I think it was in my legs today. Sprinters are full of emotions in the minutes after a sprint finish. From now it’s ok and tomorrow is another day.”
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