Marcel Kittel (born 11 May 1988) is a German former racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2011 and 2019 for the Team Giant–Alpecin, Quick-Step Floors and Team Katusha–Alpecin squads.[4] As a junior, he specialised in time trials, even winning a bronze medal in the World Championships for cyclists aged under 23. When he became a professional in 2011, he specialised in bunch sprints, winning 19 stages across the three Grand Tours, and taking 89 wins in his professional career.
 Kittel in 2018 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Marcel Kittel | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 11 May 1988 Arnstadt, Bezirk Erfurt, East Germany | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 82 kg (181 lb; 12 st 13 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Current team | Retired | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Discipline | Road | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Role | Rider | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rider type | Sprinter | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Amateur team | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2007–2010 | Thüringer Energie Team | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Professional teams | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2011–2015 | Skil–Shimano | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2016–2017 | Etixx–Quick-Step | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2018–2019 | Team Katusha–Alpecin[2][3] | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Major wins | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Grand Tours
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
After retirement, he works as an ambassador for Endura and ROSE Bikes.
Career
editSkil–Shimano (2011–15)
edit2011 season
editKittel made his professional debut in 2011 with the Dutch team Skil–Shimano. Known as a time trial specialist at the time, he won a bunch sprint during the Tour de Langkawi. After the success he decided to become a sprinter. He then won four out of five stages in the Four Days of Dunkirk, all in bunch sprints. Kittel won his first World Tour stage, winning the opening stage of the Tour de Pologne, a race where he also won three other stages. He also made his Grand Tour debut in the Vuelta a España, where he won the seventh stage beating Peter Sagan and Óscar Freire. He finished the season off by winning two stages at the Herald Sun Tour. Kittel became the second most winning rider in 2011 - with 17 wins.
2012 season
editKittel made his Tour de France debut in 2012 when he was selected as leader of his team, where he would compete for stage wins and the green jersey.[5] However he withdrew an hour into stage 5, after suffering from a viral infection of the stomach and intestines from stage 2, the fourth retirement of the 2012 Tour.[6] He bounced back at the beginning of August, when he won the first stage of the Eneco Tour, the first event in his return to racing. The only rider who was competitive with him in the final bunch sprint was Frenchman Arnaud Démare (FDJ–BigMat).[7] After bad luck struck on stage 3, where he suffered a flat tyre with 5 kilometres (3.1 miles) to go,[8] Kittel prevailed again on stage 4. He congratulated his teammates Tom Veelers and John Degenkolb for their work in the final kilometres, as they sheltered him from the wind before he propelled himself toward the finish line and the victory.[9] At the end of 2012, as the cycling world was affected by the Lance Armstrong doping case revelations, Kittel took a vocal anti-doping stance by stating that he was "sick" of the people who still defended Armstrong in the cycling community.[10]
2013 season
editIn 2013, Kittel's team Argos–Shimano was promoted to the first division of the sport and was granted World Tour status.[11] Kittel won the first stage of the Tour of Oman in a sprint finish, his first success of the season.[12] In the Tour de France, Kittel found success as a sprinter. He finished first in the Tour's first stage in Corsica and took the first maillot jaune of the 100th Tour de France. He lost the yellow jersey the next day, however, to Jan Bakelants of RadioShack–Leopard. Kittel was not done in this Tour, though, he would go on to win the 10th and 12th stages. On the final stage, Kittel triumphed again on the Champs-Élysées, ending the four-year winning streak of Omega Pharma–Quick-Step rider Mark Cavendish. He would finish 4th in the Green Jersey points standings.
2014 season
editKittel started the 2014 season early by winning the Down Under Classic, followed by three consecutive stage wins at the Dubai Tour. On the third stage, he survived two short climbs near the end of the race and won the sprint of a greatly reduced group.[13] In April he won the Scheldeprijs for the third time in a row, the first rider to achieve this. In the Giro d'Italia, Kittel won stages 2 and 3 in Belfast and Dublin respectively, but abandoned the race before it reached Italian soil. As he did in 2013, Kittel won the opening stage at the Tour de France and took the yellow jersey, but lost it to Vincenzo Nibali on stage 2. However, Kittel won both stages 3 and 4. He also won the final stage 21 on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, as he did in 2013. In September, Kittel won the opening stage of the Tour of Britain by outsprinting Nicola Ruffoni and Mark Cavendish.[14] He also won the closing stage.[15]
2015 season
editIn January, Kittel won the Down Under Classic in Australia for the second year in a row.[16] By the end of April, he had competed in only two UCI races: the Tour Down Under and the Tour of Qatar. He failed to participate in any sprints in those races, as he was plagued by a virus. He returned to competition in May in the Tour de Yorkshire,[17] but he dropped out after riding 100 kilometres (62 miles) in the first stage.[18] He was supposed to make another comeback at the Tour of California but he withdrew days before the event, citing illness once again.[19] He did ride the Ster ZLM Toer, but could not finish in the top 10 of a stage. At the end of June, it was announced that Kittel would not participate in the Tour de France, since his condition was not up to par.[20] "Not being nominated [for the Tour] is without doubt the most difficult time of my career," said Kittel a day after his non-selection was made public.[21]
Etixx–Quick-Step (2016–17)
editIn October 2015, it was announced that he had signed a two-year deal with Etixx–Quick-Step from 2016, after Team Giant–Alpecin released him from his contract a year early.[22]
2016 season
editAt the Dubai Tour, his first race of the season, he won two stages, the overall classification as well as the points classification.[23] He carried on his successes to the Portuguese race Volta ao Algarve, winning stage 1 by a significant margin over André Greipel.[24] He also won stage 4 and the points classification jersey.[25]
2017 season
editKittel won five stages in the Tour de France, bringing his total of Tour de France stage victories to fourteen.
Team Katusha–Alpecin (2018–19)
edit2018 season
edit
For the third year in a row, he chose to start his season at the Dubai Tour, but was unable to win any stages.[26] Kittel took two wins in the 2018 season, both of which came at Tirreno–Adriatico.[27]
2019 season
edit
Kittel started the 2019 season strongly, winning the Trofeo Palma, part of the Challenge Mallorca, and taking second place at the Clásica de Almería.[28] He pulled out of the Tour of California and the Tour de Yorkshire before the races started, citing health issues. On 9 May 2019, his contract with Team Katusha–Alpecin was terminated.[4] This was a mutual decision by the team management and Kittel, who opted to take time off from professional cycling because of fatigue.[29]
Kittel announced his retirement from professional cycling on 23 August 2019.[30]
Major results
editSource:[31]
- 2004
- 1st
Road race, National Novice Road Championships - 2005
- 1st
Time trial, UCI Junior Road World Championships - 2nd Time trial, National Junior Road Championships
- 2006
- 1st Time trial, UCI Junior Road World Championships
- National Junior Road Championships
- 1st Time trial
- 1st Team time trial
- 1st
- 1st Stage 3a (ITT) Trofeo Karlsberg
- 2007
- 1st Time trial, National Under-23 Road Championships
- 1st Stage 4 Brandenburg Rundfahrt
- 2008
- 1st Grosser Silber-Pils Preiss
- 1st Memorial Davide Fardelli
- 2nd Overall Brandenburg Rundfahrt
- 1st Stage 5
- 2009
- 1st
Time trial, UEC European Under-23 Road Championships - 1st Stage 6 Thüringen Rundfahrt der U23
- 4th Time trial, UCI Under-23 Road World Championships
- 4th Neuseen Classics
- 6th La Côte Picarde
- 7th Overall Flèche du Sud
- 1st Stages 1 & 3
- 8th Overall Le Triptyque des Monts et Châteaux
- 9th Overall Tour du Haut-Anjou
- 1st Stage 4
- 2010
- 1st Time trial, National Under-23 Road Championships
- Tour de Moselle
- 1st Stages 2 & 4
- 2nd Overall Mainfranken-Tour
- 3rd
Time trial, UCI Under-23 Road World Championships - 3rd Overall Festningsrittet
- 1st Stage 2
- 3rd Memorial Davide Fardelli
- 2011
- 1st
Overall Delta Tour Zeeland
- 1st Stage 1
- 1st ProRace Berlin
- 1st Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen
- 1st Münsterland Giro
- 1st Amstel Curaçao Race
- Four Days of Dunkirk
- 1st
Points classification - 1st Stages 1, 2, 3 & 5
- 1st
- Tour de Pologne
- 1st Stages 1, 2, 3 & 7
- Herald Sun Tour
- 1st Stages 3 & 5
- 1st Stage 3 Tour de Langkawi
- 1st Stage 7 Vuelta a España
- 2nd Rund um Köln
- 3rd Trofeo Palma de Mallorca
- 6th Trofeo Cala Millor
- 2012
- 1st Scheldeprijs
- 1st Omloop van het Houtland
- 1st Münsterland Giro
- Ster ZLM Toer
- 1st Points classification
- 1st Stages 1 & 4
- 1st
- Eneco Tour
- 1st Stages 1 & 4
- Tour of Oman
- 1st Stages 3 & 6
- Tour de l'Eurométropole
- 1st Stages 2 & 3
- 1st Stage 2 Three Days of De Panne
- 1st Stage 2 Étoile de Bessèges
- 2nd Handzame Classic
- 3rd Grand Prix de Fourmies
- 7th Grand Prix Impanis-Van Petegem
- 2013
- 1st Overall Tour de Picardie
- 1st Points classification
- 1st Stages 1 & 3
- 1st
- 1st Scheldeprijs
- 1st Omloop van het Houtland
- 1st ProRace Berlin
- Tour de France
- 1st Stages 1, 10, 12 & 21
- Held after Stage 1
- Held after Stages 1 & 2
- Tour of Turkey
- 1st Stages 1, 7 & 8
- 1st Stage 2 Paris–Nice
- 1st Stage 1 Tour of Oman
- 6th Overall Ster ZLM Toer
- 1st Stage 2
- 2014
- 1st Down Under Classic
- 1st Scheldeprijs
- Tour de France
- 1st Stages 1, 3, 4 & 21
- Held & after Stage 1
- Giro d'Italia
- 1st Stages 2 & 3
- Held
after Stages 2 & 3
- Tour of Britain
- 1st Stages 1 & 8b
- 1st Stage 1 Ster ZLM Toer
- 5th Overall Three Days of De Panne
- 6th Overall Dubai Tour
- 1st Points classification
- 1st Stages 2, 3 & 4
- 1st
- 6th Vattenfall Cyclassics
- 2015
- 1st Down Under Classic
- Tour de Pologne
- 1st
Points classification - 1st Stage 1
- 1st
- 6th Rund um Köln
- 2016
- 1st
Team time trial, UCI Road World Championships - 1st
Overall Dubai Tour
- 1st Points classification
- 1st Stages 1 & 4
- 1st
- 1st Scheldeprijs
- 1st Grand Prix de Fourmies
- Giro d'Italia
- 1st Stages 2 & 3
- Held
after Stage 3 - Held after Stages 2–6
- Volta ao Algarve
- 1st Points classification
- 1st Stages 1 & 4
- 1st
- 1st Stage 1 Tour de Romandie
- 1st Stage 3a Three Days of De Panne
- 1st Stage 4 Tour de France
- 3rd Road race, National Road Championships
- 2017
- 1st Overall Dubai Tour
- 1st Points classification
- 1st Stages 1, 2 & 5
- 1st
- 1st Scheldeprijs
- Tour de France
- 1st Stages 2, 6, 7, 10 & 11
- Held after Stages 2–3 & 7–16
- 1st Stage 1 Tour of California
- 1st Stage 2 Abu Dhabi Tour
- 1st Stage 3a Three Days of De Panne
- 1st Stage 4 Ster ZLM Toer
- 4th Münsterland Giro
- 2018
- Tirreno–Adriatico
- 1st Stages 2 & 6
- 5th Rund um Köln
- 2019
- 1st Trofeo Palma
- 2nd Clásica de Almería
Grand Tour general classification results timeline
edit| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Giro d'Italia | — | — | — | DNS-4 | — | DNS-9 | — | — |
| Stages won | — | — | — | 2 | — | 2 | — | — |
| Points classification | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Tour de France | — | DNF-5 | 166 | 161 | — | 166 | DNF-17 | HD-11 |
| Stages won | — | 0 | 4 | 4 | — | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| Points classification | — | — | 4 | 4 | — | 2 | — | — |
| Vuelta a España | DNS-13 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Stages won | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Points classification | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1 | Winner |
| 2–3 | Top three-finish |
| 4–10 | Top ten-finish |
| 11– | Other finish |
| DNE | Did not enter |
| DNF-x | Did not finish (retired on stage x) |
| DNS-x | Did not start (not started on stage x) |
| HD | Finished outside time limit (occurred on stage x) |
| DSQ | Disqualified |
| N/A | Race/classification not held |
| NR | Not ranked in this classification |
References
edit- ^ "Marcel Kittel | Team KATUSHA ALPECIN". 15 December 2018. Archived from the original on 15 December 2018. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
- ^ "Marcel Kittel joins Tony Martin at Katusha-Alpecin". Sky Sports. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
- ^ "Katusha-Alpecin announce reduced 24-rider roster for 2019". Cyclingnews.com. Immediate Media Company. 20 November 2018. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
- ^ a b Ballinger, Alex (9 May 2019). "Marcel Kittel quits Katusha-Alpecin". Cycling Weekly. TI Media. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
- ^ "Kittel leads Argos-Shimano at Tour de France". Cycling News. Future Publishing Limited. 19 June 2012. Retrieved 5 July 2012.
- ^ Decaluwé, Brecht (5 July 2012). "Kittel quits Tour de France on stage five". Cycling News. Future Publishing Limited. Retrieved 5 July 2012.
- ^ "Kittel makes winning return at Eneco Tour". Cycling News. Future Publishing Limited. 7 August 2012. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
- ^ Atkins, Ben (9 August 2012). "Kittel sprints to stage four as Boonen sneaks into the lead". VeloNation. VeloNation LLC. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
- ^ "Kittel takes second win at Eneco Tour". Cycling News. Future Publishing Limited. 9 August 2012. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
- ^ "Kittel "sick" of Armstrong supporters". CyclingNews. Future Publishing Limited. 26 October 2012. Retrieved 13 February 2013.
- ^ "Argos-Shimano Team celebrates its new WorldTour license". CyclingNews. Future Publishing Limited. 10 December 2012. Retrieved 13 February 2013.
- ^ "Tour of Oman: Marcel Kittel Wins Stage 1". Bicycling. AFP. 11 February 2013. Archived from the original on 7 April 2013. Retrieved 13 February 2013.
- ^ Stokes, Shane (7 February 2014). "Kittel grabs another stage win in Dubai Tour, Phinney resists attacks on final climbs". VeloNation. VeloNation LLC. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
- ^ "Tour of Britain: Kittel wins stage 1 in Liverpool". Cyclingnews.com. Future plc. 7 September 2014. Retrieved 7 September 2014.
- ^ "Kittel wins final Tour of Britain stage". Cyclingnews.com. Future plc. 14 September 2014. Retrieved 14 September 2014.
- ^ "Marcel Kittel opens 2015 account with victory in the People's Choice Classic". VeloNews. Competitor Group, Inc. 19 January 2015. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
- ^ Brown, Gregor (28 April 2015). "Marcel Kittel makes comeback in Tour de Yorkshire after three-month break". Cycling Weekly. Time Inc. UK. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
- ^ Benson, Daniel (1 May 2015). "Marcel Kittel abandons Tour de Yorkshire on stage 1". Cyclingnews.com. Future plc. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
- ^ Clarke, Stuart (7 May 2015). "Marcel Kittel will not ride Tour of California as struggles continue". Cycling Weekly. Time Inc. UK. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
- ^ O'Shea, Sadhbh (25 June 2015). "Marcel Kittel will not ride Tour de France". Cyclingnews.com. Immediate Media Company. Retrieved 25 June 2015.
- ^ Brown, Gregor (26 June 2015). "Kittel: This is the most difficult time of my career". Cycling Weekly. Time Inc. UK. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
- ^ "Marcel Kittel joins Etixx - Quick-Step, Ivan Basso retires". BBC Sport. 5 October 2015. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
- ^ Fretz, Caley (6 February 2016). "Kittel takes stage, overall in Dubai". VeloNews. Competitor Group, Inc. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
- ^ Farrand, Stephen (17 February 2016). "Volta ao Algarve: Kittel wins stage 1 in Albufeira". Cyclingnews.com. Immediate Media Company. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
- ^ Farrand, Stephen (20 February 2016). "Volta ao Algarve stage 4: Kittel dominates the sprint in Tavira". Cyclingnews.com. Immediate Media Company. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
- ^ "Dubai Tour 2018 | Stages | Winners and leaders". www.procyclingstats.com. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
- ^ "Kittel ends season early after frustrating year". Cyclingnews.com. Immediate Media Company. 8 September 2018. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
In his first year with Team Katusha-Alpecin, the German sprinter has brought in only two wins, taking sprint victories in two stages at Tirreno-Adriatico in March.
- ^ "Kittel pulls out of Tour de Yorkshire due to health issues". cyclingnews.com. 1 May 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
- ^ "Marcel Kittel and Katusha-Alpecin terminate contract". cyclingnews.com. 9 May 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
- ^ "Marcel Kittel - News". www.marcelkittel.de. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
- ^ Profile at Cycling Archives
External links
edit
- Official website
- Marcel Kittel at UCI
- Marcel Kittel at Cycling Archives (archived)
- Marcel Kittel at ProCyclingStats
- Marcel Kittel at CQ Ranking
- Marcel Kittel at CycleBase
- Marcel Kittel profile at Giant-Shimano at the Wayback Machine (archived 15 January 2014)
