Tuesday, 5 July 2016

Tour de France: Third time's a charm for Kittel

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In the third bunch sprint of the 2016 Tour de France there was – finally – victory for Marcel Kittel (Etixx-QuickStep). Finally, because in a horrible season in 2015 with very little race days due to illness, the German top sprinter managed only one pro win.

He moved from the Giant-Alpecin team to the Etixx-QuickStep team and rediscovered his fast legs. Finally, because the confidence was dropping after two missed opportunities in this Tour de France, resulting in victories for Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data).

Two years after his last win in the Tour de France, the 28-year-old German rider is back on the podium with a very narrow win over pocket sprinter Bryan Cocquard (Direct Energie) and world champion Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) on an uphill finish. The 237km stage from Saumur to Limoges was the ninth stage victory in the Tour de France for Kittel.

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The difference between Kittel and Coquard was even closer than the difference between Cavendish and André Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) one day earlier in Angers, leaving only a few millimetres between the two riders. Kittel nor Coquard threw a fist in the air and both riders sank to the ground to await the verdict.

"I heard it from Steven, our physio, he was there with me," Kittel said. "They were saying something in the speakers. Suddenly Steven was saying: 'you won'. I gave him a big hug. It was a horrible moment to sit there and wait until you hear your name, or don’t hear it. It was very special and I'm very happy." 

After learning that he won, Kittel was very emotional, not surprisingly after the rough year he had gone through in 2015. Afterwards he tried to explain where the emotions came from.

Video Highlights

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com



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