German road cyclist

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. 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.

After retirement, he works as an amb*ador for Endura and ROSE Bikes.

Contents

• 1 Career
  • 1.1 Skil–Shimano (2011–15)
    • 1.1.1 2011 season
    • 1.1.2 2012 season
    • 1.1.3 2013 season
    • 1.1.4 2014 season
    • 1.1.5 2015 season
  • 1.2 Etixx–Quick-Step (2016–17)
    • 1.2.1 2016 season
    • 1.2.2 2017 season
  • 1.3 Team Katusha–Alpecin (2018–19)
    • 1.3.1 2018 season
    • 1.3.2 2019 season
• 2 Major results
  • 2.1 Grand Tour general cl*ification results timeline
• 3 References
• 4 External links

Career

Skil–Shimano (2011–15)

2011 season

Kittel 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

Kittel 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. 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. 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 compe*ive with him in the final bunch sprint was Frenchman Arnaud Démare (FDJ–BigMat). After bad luck struck on stage 3, where he suffered a flat tyre with 5 kilometres (3.1 miles) to go, 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. 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.

2013 season

In 2013, Kittel's team Argos–Shimano was promoted to the first division of the sport and was granted World Tour status. Kittel won the first stage of the Tour of Oman in a sprint finish, his first success of the season. 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

Kittel started the 2014 season early by winning the Down Under Cl*ic, 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. 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. He also won the closing stage.

2015 season

In January, Kittel won the Down Under Cl*ic in Australia for the second year in a row. 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 compe*ion in May in the Tour de Yorkshire, but he dropped out after riding 100 kilometres (62 miles) in the first stage. He was supposed to make another comeback at the Tour of California but he withdrew days before the event, citing illness once again. 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. "Not being nominated is without doubt the most difficult time of my career," said Kittel a day after his non-selection was made public.

Etixx–Quick-Step (2016–17)

In 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.

2016 season

At the Dubai Tour, his first race of the season, he won two stages, the overall cl*ification as well as the points cl*ification. He carried on his successes to the Portuguese race Volta ao Algarve, winning stage 1 by a significant margin over André Greipel. He also won stage 4 and the points cl*ification jersey.

2017 season

Kittel won five stages in the Tour de France, bringing his total of Tour de France stage victories to fourteen.

Team Katusha–Alpecin (2018–19)

2018 season

Kittel at the start of the 2018 Milan–San Remo

For the third year in a row, he chose to start his season at the Dubai Tour, but was unable to win any stages. Kittel took two wins in the 2018 season, both of which came at Tirreno–Adriatico.

2019 season

Kittel started the 2019 season strongly, winning the Trofeo Palma, part of the Challenge Mallorca, and taking second place at the Clásica de Almería. 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. This was a mutual decision by the team management and Kittel, who opted to take time off from professional cycling because of fatigue.

Kittel announced his retirement from professional cycling on 23 August 2019.

Major results

Source:

20041st Road race, National Novice Road Championships20051st Time trial, UCI Juniors World Championships2nd Time trial, National Junior Road Championships20061st Time trial, UCI Juniors World ChampionshipsNational Junior Road Championships1st Time trial1st Team time trial1st Stage 3a (ITT) Trofeo Karlsberg20071st Time trial, National Under-23 Road Championships1st Stage 4 Brandenburg Rundfahrt20081st Grosser Silber-Pils Preiss1st Memorial Davide Fardelli2nd Overall Brandenburg Rundfahrt1st Stage 520091st Time trial, UEC European Under-23 Road Championships1st Stage 6 Thüringen Rundfahrt der U234th Time trial, UCI Under-23 Road World Championships4th Neuseen Cl*ics6th La Côte Picarde7th Overall Flèche du Sud1st Stages 1 & 38th Overall Le Triptyque des Monts et Châteaux9th Overall Tour du Haut-Anjou1st Stage 420101st Time trial, National Under-23 Road ChampionshipsTour de Moselle1st Stages 2 & 42nd Overall Mainfranken-Tour3rd Time trial, UCI Under-23 Road World Championships3rd Overall Festningsrittet1st Stage 23rd Memorial Davide Fardelli20111st Overall Delta Tour Zeeland1st Stage 11st ProRace Berlin1st Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen1st Münsterland Giro1st Amstel Curaçao RaceFour Days of Dunkirk1st Points cl*ification1st Stages 1, 2, 3 & 5Tour de Pologne1st Stages 1, 2, 3 & 7Herald Sun Tour1st Stages 3 & 51st Stage 3 Tour de Langkawi1st Stage 7 Vuelta a España2nd Rund um Köln3rd Trofeo Palma de Mallorca6th Trofeo Cala Millor20121st Scheldeprijs1st Omloop van het Houtland1st Münsterland GiroSter ZLM Toer1st Points cl*ification1st Stages 1 & 4Eneco Tour1st Stages 1 & 4Tour of Oman1st Stages 3 & 6Tour de l'Eurométropole1st Stages 2 & 31st Stage 2 Three Days of De Panne1st Stage 2 Étoile de Bessèges2nd Handzame Cl*ic3rd Grand Prix de Fourmies7th Grand Prix Impanis-Van Petegem20131st Overall Tour de Picardie1st Points cl*ification1st Stages 1 & 31st Scheldeprijs1st Omloop van het Houtland1st ProRace BerlinTour de France1st Stages 1, 10, 12 & 21Held after Stage 1Held after Stages 1 & 2Tour of Turkey1st Stages 1, 7 & 81st Stage 2 Paris–Nice1st Stage 1 Tour of Oman6th Overall Ster ZLM Toer1st Stage 220141st Down Under Cl*ic1st ScheldeprijsTour de France1st Stages 1, 3, 4 & 21Held & after Stage 1Giro d'Italia1st Stages 2 & 3Held after Stages 2 & 3Tour of Britain1st Stages 1 & 8b1st Stage 1 Ster ZLM Toer5th Overall Three Days of De Panne6th Overall Dubai Tour1st Points cl*ification1st Stages 2, 3 & 46th Vattenfall Cycl*ics20151st Down Under Cl*icTour de Pologne1st Points cl*ification1st Stage 16th Rund um Köln20161st Team time trial, UCI Road World Championships1st Overall Dubai Tour1st Points cl*ification1st Stages 1 & 41st Scheldeprijs1st Grand Prix de FourmiesGiro d'Italia1st Stages 2 & 3Held after Stage 3Held after Stages 2–6Volta ao Algarve1st Points cl*ification1st Stages 1 & 41st Stage 1 Tour de Romandie1st Stage 3a Three Days of De Panne1st Stage 4 Tour de France3rd Road race, National Road Championships20171st Overall Dubai Tour1st Points cl*ification1st Stages 1, 2 & 51st ScheldeprijsTour de France1st Stages 2, 6, 7, 10 & 11Held after Stages 2–3 & 7–161st Stage 1 Tour of California1st Stage 2 Abu Dhabi Tour1st Stage 3a Three Days of De Panne1st Stage 4 Ster ZLM Toer4th Münsterland Giro2018Tirreno–Adriatico1st Stages 2 & 65th Rund um Köln20191st Trofeo Palma2nd Clásica de Almería

Grand Tour general cl*ification results timeline

References

External links

• Official website
• Marcel Kittel at ProCyclingStats
• Marcel Kittel at Cycling Archives
• Marcel Kittel at CQ Ranking
• Marcel Kittel profile at Giant-Shimano