So far this season Marcel Kittel (Etixx-QuickStep) has gone about adding layer upon layer to the notion that his annus horriblis of 2015 is definitively a thing of the past, and his victory on the second stage of the Giro d’Italia marked another symbolic milestone in his return to the top of the sprinting ranks.
The German had already won seven races so far this season, taking in 2.1, HC, and WorldTour races, along with the one-day Scheldeprijs Classic, but while most had long declared him ‘back’, the man himself still needed more confirmation.
“After a difficult year, back to winning in a Grand Tour. That’s something that means a lot to me,” he said, beaming in his post-stage press conference.
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Kittel won four stages at the 2013 Tour de France, before taking two at the Giro the following year and going onto to notch a further four at the Tour. It made the 2015 slump, in which he didn't even ride a Grand Tour, all the more baffling, but he's back winning in the big time at the first time of asking.
“I didn’t think about how special it would be to win here, but it’s definitely one of the most beautiful wins," he added.
The 10 bonus seconds for the win moved Kittel to within touching distance – a solitary second – of Tom Dumoulin’s overall lead and the prospect of taking the pink jersey from Holland to Italy has gone from vaguely possible, to doable, to probable.
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