Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors) had to rely on his wits and experience to win stage 2 of the Tour de France. Sprint finishes are more often than not hectic, and the Liege finale did not fail to deliver.
Kittel and his lead-out men did not have as easy a run to the line as they might have imagined. The German was brought to within half a kilometre by Matteo Trentin and Fabio Sabatini, but he had to surf wheel after wheel to make his way through to the front, which he finally did with around 100 metres to the line.
"It's simply the fact that we had a plan that we couldn't really execute like we wanted, but I think that no team did like they wanted to do," Kittel said after the race. "In the end, we put our intelligence in the sprint to try to get the best out of it. You don't have to plan it; you just have to follow.
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"I think going late was actually an advantage in a sprint that had a headwind."
The victory allows Kittel to reach the milestone of 10 stage wins, one behind Andre Greipel and two behind another compatriot Erik Zabel. He has a little way to go to reach the heady heights of the 30 of Mark Cavendish – the only other rider in this year's race to have won more stages than Kittel – but there are plenty of opportunities for him to add a few more to his number.
"I think I'm definitely in good shape and a good condition. I'm also really happy that I have a very strong team and a dedicated one," Kittel said. "There are sprints that are still ahead of us that are a really good chance for me. When we work like we did today, maybe a little bit better in the lead out, then I'm sure that we can go for a victory or more."
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