Giant-Alpecin’s German Sprinter, Marcel Kittel has been ruled out of the upcoming Tour De France. “The team decided that Kittel’s basic fitness is still not sufficient to compete in the Tour de France”, the team said, when they unveiled their 9 man squad for the Tour.
Kittel who has won 4 Stages in the 2014 Tour De France, including the finale on the Champs Elysees (which he won for the last 2 years). He holds a total of 11 Grand Tour Stage wins throughout his career. The 27 year old German Sprinter had been suffering ill from spring and despite hard work from both Kittel and the team coaching staff to improve his fitness, it was decided he would not reach the sufficient level of fitness in time.
Kittel’s compatriot, John Degenkolb is set to lead the team out in the sprints, having won 10 Grand Tour Stage Wins and the 2014 Points Classification at the Vuelta a Espana (the Tour of Spain). The team’s main man could be Warren Barguil, who finished 8 in the Vuelta. The 23 year old Frenchman is going to make his Tour debut.
This has changed the complexity of the Points classification with one of the favourites being eliminated. No doubt, this will be good news for Mark Cavendish who has never beaten Kittel in a sprint. The 30 year old Manxman, who now aims to add to his 25 Tour De France stage wins, will face stiff competition from Peter Sagan and Andre Gripel.
Kittel will now look to overcome this disappointment and work on his fitness and prepare for the upcoming Vuelta which is scheduled to start towards the end of August. If he recovers sufficiently and pleases the team management and coaches, adding that he would not be worn out after a brutal Tour De France, he would be a clear favourite to take the point’s classification jersey there.
