Retired Tour de France sprinting great Marcel Kittel says he would be "disappointed" if he was still a rider at the decision to include a cobbled climb before the traditional Champs-Élysées finish on the final day of the race in July.

In a presentation in Paris this week, the race organiser [ASO] revealed that the last stage would include parts of the route used in the Olympic road races last August in the French capital. The peloton will now take on three ascents of the Côte de la Butte Montmartre before reaching the Champs-Élysées, a move which has already attracted criticism from two-time Tour winner Jonas Vingegaard.

The last stage of the race has long been viewed as the unofficial sprinters' world championships, although Kittel told Cycling Weekly that the decision will mean the traditional opportunity for the pure sprinters could disappear completely this year. ASO previously said that the inclusion of the climb was to mark the 50th anniversary of the race's usual finish in Paris.

"I feel pain in my sprinter's heart now everyone knows exactly what's planned," Kittel said. "It's clear that they're going to be breaking with tradition. With a final like this, it's also not going to be a quiet moment for the yellow jersey anymore. The Tour now has 21 stages for the GC, not 20, that’s at least how I see it."

He added: "It's going to be very, very hard to control the race there and it's going to definitely be far more difficult to force it into a sprint on the final day. I don't want to judge too much too early, but I'm afraid that we're following that direction and that the race will now be very different."

Breaking with tradition

Kittel won 14 individual stages of the Tour during his career, including two victories in Paris. Back in 2013, he beat both André Greipel and Mark Cavendish on the Champs-Élysées in a memorable final day of racing. The last day is often a relaxed affair for the man in the yellow jersey; glasses of champagne are passed around the peloton to toast the overall winner's success.

Kittel believes that the ceremonial aspect of the race is an important tradition to preserve, explaining that the inclusion of the climb will lead to a huge increase in tension. However, the now 37-year-old added that he understands the change will present a lot of excitement for those watching on, although he isn't convinced that all of the riders will be pleased by the move.

"It's going to be very stressful," he said. "There's a lot more uncertainty and it will be a lot more difficult to control the race as a sprinters team. If I was still a rider, I'd be quite disappointed that it won't be a controlled sprint day anymore.

"I'm not saying it's going to be impossible [for a sprinter to win], because we have so many sprinters at the moment who could get over it [the Butte de Montmartre] and time it well. But it's still going to be really really difficult. It's very narrow, the climb, so positioning is going to be very important."

He added: "I also feel a little afraid as in the past on the Champs-Élysées when it rains, everyone starts to doubt how safe it is. Sometimes in the past the race was neutralised. But with the Montmartre climb and a few descents, it will then be even more challenging, so it's definitely a very big thing that they're doing this."

As well as the likes of Alpecin-Deceuninck pair Mathieu van der Poel and Jasper Philipsen, Kittel believes that an array of Classics riders will now be looking at the course and fancying their chances instead.

"There will be guys who have a better chance to attack to make the race difficult," he said. "It's going to definitely be a really exciting race to watch, there will be sprinters like Philipsen, Michael Matthews and guys like that who will be able to survive it if they’re on a good day. But it really will just depend on the wider dynamic in general and what other teams want when it comes down to it."

Marcel Kittel - a winner of 14 Tour de France stages - believes Mark Cavendish will grab what will be a record breaking 35th stage win at the Tour in the sprint stages still to come.

Cavendish was involved in the thick of the action at the sharp end of the race on both stages three and four. The Manxman missed out to Jasper Philipsen in Bayonne on stage three before Philipsen won again in Nogaro on Tuesday afternoon.

Speaking to Cycling Weekly in Dax prior to stage four, Kittel explained that he believes Cavendish will break the record in one of the remaining sprint opportunities..

“That's the million dollar question,” Kittel said. “I believe in him because what I saw yesterday [stage three] was a strong Cavendish. He was almost alone in the last kilometres and he still kept his position and ended up with a good result but it's always challenging. I mean, he has to surf on wheels and use his kick in the final and it's so hard.

“You need to invest a lot of energy. So I hope he has this kick still left when it's really necessary.”

Prior to the French Grand Tour getting underway, Astana acquired the services of the Manxman’s former teammate Mark Renshaw as a coach for the race.

Kittel told CW that he had not considered the possibility of similar work to Renshaw and that he was “very happy” being on the outside of the racing itself.

“No, I've never pushed for that,” he said. “I'm happy where I am now looking from the other side and celebrating them [former teammates] and cheering for them.”

As well as Cavendish and Astana, Kittel was equally impressed by Alpecin-Deceuninck’s strong showing in the finale of the stage three sprint in Bayonne .

He said. “It was not the fact that they were super strong, because that's what we knew before, not only Mathieu van der Poel but also Jonas Rickaert.

“But also, how they waited until the last kilometre is something that says a lot about their strategy, about their understanding of each other and trust in each other. That's something that you need and especially in a tour final, you need to be able to almost work without any communication together. And that's what we saw yesterday.

“So this is a huge advantage for Jasper Philipsen.”

Mathieu van der Poel was instrumental in delivering Philipsen to the line in the coastal town, something which Kittel described as “bonus points” for Alpecin Deceuninck in the race for sprint dominance.

Both of the finishing straights on stages three and four were very different from one another. In Bayonne the riders had to sprint up a slight incline - something which Cavendish said was not the kind of finish for him - before stage four concluded on a motor racing circuit in Nogaro. 

When asked how the sprinting  landscape had changed since his time as a rider, he said he feels there are now very few “pure sprinters” in the men’s peloton and as a result, it’s “harder” to win for those that are left.

“We still have some [pure sprinters], but the Tour's also adapting to its many talents, its new stars. And that's something that you can definitely see, how the amount of pure sprint stages decreased in the last years. This year we have four very clear sprint stages, and then stages like yesterday where it's kind of unsure what we will get in the end.

“And that's because we have great riders like Jasper Phillipsen, Wout van Aert  and those guys who can survive hills.

“So it is going to be a challenge for Dylan Groenewegen, for example or Fabio Jakobsen who still represents these pure sprinters.”

Marcel Kittel retired from professional cycling as not only one of the best sprinters of his generation, but one of the most successful in the history of the Tour de France. 

During his nine-year professional career, the German star racked up 14 stages wins in the French Grand Tour, putting him 13th in the all-time list of Tour stage winners, just one victory behind Belgian legend Freddy Maertens.  

Kittel’s retirement mid-way through the 2019, at the age of 31, may have come as a surprise to cycling fans, but the rider has since said he does not regret his decision to leave the sport. 

But now, with almost three years away from the peloton, Kittel has chosen to share a fascinating insight into his most successful years at the Tour de France, in a new case study written with the help of a former colleague. 

Looking back at Kittel's career

After retirement, Kittel was approached by sport scientist Teun van Erp, who had previously been a data analyst at Argos-Shimano, where Kittel started his WorldTour career.

Van Erp proposed a new study, looking at the power data behind Kittel’s best years, while also investigating the team tactics that made Kittel one of the most dangerous sprinters in the bunch. 

Earlier this year, Kittel and Van Erp published the results, offering a unique insight into both the physical demands of the Tour de France, but also into Kittel’s own ability. 

Kittel told Cycling Weekly: “[Van Erp] contacted me and he had a lot of data already from the Tour in '13 and '14. I liked this idea and it was for him an interesting research project and I think the results are also a nice way to look back at my career, but also to maybe confirm or at least learn something about me and who I was as a rider, especially as a sprinter.” 

Van Erp added: “I’d had this idea for quite a long time.

“After the case study I did on Tom Dumoulin I realised that case studies are really interesting for the science community as you provide actual numbers and not only averages. So when Marcel Kittel announced his retirement I just asked him if he would be open to the idea.  

“Specifically Marcel because we worked together in the first years of his career from 2012-2015 and of course it is the most interesting to these case-studies with the best athletes in the world. 

“The sprints in the Tour de France have the highest level in the world and with Marcel winning 14 I had enough data to only present the Tour de France.”  

The physical toll

The paper was split into two sections and delved into the physical toll the Tour takes on a sprinter like Kittel and how the rider paced his efforts on different types of stage, while the second part explored the changing tactics of a team sprint from 2013 to 2017. 

On the changes in the lead-out, Kittel said: “Teams got stronger in the lead-outs. 

“You didn’t have just these two or three teams anymore in 2015 2016 - you could see in the final more teams, more sprinters, and I think you can also see in the case study that the team tactics changed for me from 2013 and 2014 compared to 2016 and 2017. And that's quite interesting.”

The evolving lead-out

The study revealed that during his time at the Shimano team from 2013 to 2015, Kittel’s power outputs during lead-outs were significantly higher than when he joined Quick-Step the following year.

Kittel would also position himself closer to the front of the race in the climax with Shimano, compared with his time at Quick-Step when he would move up right at the final moment, while still being able to sprint to victory.

He said: “For example in '13 and '14, we as a team were really focused on working as a team on doing this lead-out together, then it's safer. If you have a good working team, good communication, and enough experience together it's a safer way of getting to the final, so you have less chance of failure and simply a better chance to win. 

“But there's a disadvantage that you have to invest more energy. The sprinter has to invest more energy to stay on the wheel of his team-mates. And that's the decision that you have to take now.

“In 2016 and 2017 as a sprinter I took more risk to stay longer in the peloton to save more energy and move up later, but it gives you a better chance so you're not moving to the front too early and still in a good position to sprint for the victory. So it's a little bit of a gamble that you have to take.”

>>> Marcel Kittel reveals the power numbers and effort behind his most successful Tour de France years  

Sprinting in 2021

Comparing former tactics to bunch sprints in 2021, specifically the sprints in the UAE Tour, Kittel said some teams still opt for a full lead-out train in the final in order to protect their sprinter, while Deceuninck - Quick-Step allow their sprinter Sam Bennett to move freely through peloton before coming to the front at the final moments, saving energy but putting himself at greater risk. 

He added that sprints are often defined by the number of quality sprinters (and sprint teams) fighting for the front of the bunch in the final of a race. 

Written by Kittel, Teun van Erp and Robert Lamberts and published in the International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, the research covers the 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017 Tours de France, in which Kittel won 14 stages in total.  

Max power

The first part of the study revealed some of the remarkable numbers behind Kittel’s performance - Kittel weighed between 90kg and his lightest race weight 88.5kg (in the 2016 Tour), which the researchers used to calculate his Tour de France Functional Threshold Power (FTP) in watts per kilogram for each of the races.  

His highest FTP was in the 2016 and 2017 Tours, in which Kittel pushed 431 watts (4.9w/kg) and 438w (4.9w/kg) respectively. 

The paper also says that Kittel had a relatively low FTP in w/kg compared to other riders, but it was due to the enormous maximum power outputs that he was still able to succeed. 

Kittel revealed that his highest ever power was 1,940w for three seconds during a training ride, but that his max power was slightly lower at the end of a race. 

Surviving the Tour de France

Van Erp said: “When Marcel read the work the first time he was super enthusiastic to see all his data so nicely presented. From what I remember he was a bit surprised that it seems that his power in the sprint and sprint preparation does not go down at the end of a Grand Tour. 

Kittel said: “The other thing [I found interesting] was actually that my power output also for those four different editions of the Tour de France was quite consistent and steady 

“I think you can see a baseline, the power that is required to be able to survive the Tour de France and the level that you need to achieve before you start. 

“I found that also really interesting to see really in numbers, analysed by a scientist and really confirmed, So that's quite cool.”  

But the question remained of what Kittel hoped other riders could learn from his Tour de France experience. 

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While Kittel did have some idea of what his fellow sprinters could take from the study, he was also hesitant about riders making comparisons with their own power numbers: “I'm always careful with that.

"I think when it comes to the pure numbers, it's not really possible to compare it to your own power output, because I was a very heavy professional rider so I had to push those high watts to be able to be fast and successful in the end.  

“But in general, I think you can see that throughout the Tour de France you don't really lose your sprint.

“Although you might think you're really tired and you can’t really ride fast anymore, once you have a certain level, you can keep it for a long time.

“I think that might be a good help for a positive mindset.”  

Marcel Kittel has revealed some of the staggering power numbers behind his most successful Tour de France years in a new study.

The German sprinting star, who retired from professional cycling in 2019, has made his power data and other details available to researchers who have analysed his effort in four editions of the Tour de France. 

A new research paper, titled ‘Demands of the Tour de France: A Case Study of a World-Class Sprinter (Part 1)', delves into the physical toll the Tour takes on a sprinter like Kittel and how the rider paced his efforts on different types of stage. 

Kittel, posting on social media about the paper, said: “After I retired I was approached by Teun van Erp and he asked me if I would be interested to be part of a study to look into the demands of a Tour de France for a sprinter.

“Together with Rob Lamberts, he analysed my power data and sprints from 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017. This week the study was published and I wanted to share my insights with you.”

The paper, written by Kittel, Teun van Erp and Robert Lamberts and published in the International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, covers the 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017 Tours de France, in which Kittel won 14 stages in total. 

Kittel weighed between 90kg and his lightest race weight 88.5kg (in the 2016 Tour), which the researchers used to calculate his Tour de France Functional Threshold Power (FTP) in watts per kilogram for each of the races. 

His highest FTP was in the 2016 and 2017 Tours, in which Kittel pushed 431 watts (4.9w/kg) and 438w (4.9w/kg) respectively.

The paper says that Kittel had a relatively low FTP in w/kg compared to other riders, but it was due to his enormous maximum power outputs that he was still able to succeed. 

Kittel revealed that his highest ever power was 1,940w for three seconds during a training ride, but that his max power was slightly lower at the end of a race. 

He also said that he needed to maintain that his weight in order to perform, saying: “My strength was my sprint and I needed the muscles (and weight) for it. 

“If I would have lost five kilograms I would have still been one of the heaviest in the peloton, but maybe not the fastest anymore.” 

The researchers said: “The sprinter, although highly successful in the sprint stages, finished in the last five per cent of the general classification. This position highlights the difficulty posed by the TdF for a world-class sprinter. To a certain extent, the low overall GC position could be attributed to tactics and taking it easy on certain stages as the overall GC position is not that important.”

“Although this world-class sprinter has a lower relative FTP than previously reported in professional road cycling, he was still highly successful, with 14 stage wins. His success lies in his unique capacity to produce extremely high explosive power outputs. To our knowledge, these are the highest values ever reported for a sprinter in a road race and, as such, are similar to power outputs reported in track cycling.” 

The research also compared data from each of the four Tour de France editions, revealing the average stage length was between 159km (in 2013) and 176km (in 2017).

Kittel’s average power for each stage ranged between 256w (2.88w/kg) in 2017 and 264 (3.02w/kg) in 2016.

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In the conclusion, the researchers said: “Due to a lower relative FTP when compared with professional cyclists who specialise in other race types, finishing a Grand Tour is extremely strenuous for a world-class sprinter. A sprinter’s average daily load is around 10 per cent higher, and he will spend five per cent to 10 per cent more time in the high-intensity zones compared with a GC contender in a GT. The mountain stages pose higher demands when compared with the other mass-start race types. In addition, mountain passes situated in the beginning are executed with a high intensity to avoid the risk of becoming isolated.” 

Part two of the study will look specifically at the sprints and the tactics in the final of a Tour de France stage.   

Retired pro Marcel Kittel has shared his support for former team-mate Tom Dumoulin, who announced he will be taking an indefinite break from professional cycling.

Kittel similarly decided to take a break from racing nearly two years ago, quitting Katusha-Alpecin in May 2019 citing exhaustion. In August he subsequently announced his retirement, and since then has been vocal about the extreme pressures endured by riders.

"I've always admired Tom Dumoulin for his strength. On the bike when were team-mates and won Tour de France stages together and off the bike for his clear opinion and honest critique," Kittel said, posting on Instagram.

Kittel says he can relate to Dumoulin's situation, and rather than wish him a speedy return to the sport, only hopes that the Dutchman can find the answers he needs.

>>> ‘For too long I’ve felt a lot of pressure to perform’: Tom Dumoulin on his decision to step back from cycling

"Of course, it's sad to see him taking a time out from cycling now, but he is also staying true to himself to take the time he needs to figure out what who he is and what he wants.

"I know from personal experience how it feels and how difficult it can be when you're doubting what you do and you want to look beyond your current life and identity. Only time will give you the answers and I hope for Tom that he'll find them soon.

"Until then I wish him the same strength that he's also got on the bike for this part of his career and everyone else who is in the same situation and trying to learn more about his or her own identity.

"I know that it's a big journey with an uncertain destination but also a very important life lesson once you find that inner compass again, recalibrate and head into this future direction."

Dutch former pro Michael Boogerd also said he can understand Dumoulin's decision.

"I have seen it myself. The pressure, the expectations. I struggled with that too," he told AD.

"People said to me: just look what you have. Healthy children, a beautiful woman, a generous salary, two big cars at the door. But it's not that simple, is it? From that perspective, I have respect for the choice Tom is now making.

"Of course, you have seen for a while that he is not feeling well. He's throwing millions aside. That isn't nothing. I think it's a brave decision.

"Between 2015 and 2018 he was on top of the world with a world title time trial and the win in the Giro. That is really amazing. After that, it went less good for him. If it goes well, all those opinions and reactions are nice. When things go wrong, it all becomes a lot more difficult. That's why I don't envy him right now."

Ahead of our phone call we had tentatively agreed to talk about Kittel's 2017 season when he claimed five Tour de France victories to take his overall and ultimately final tally to 14. 

A few days before we spoke, he messaged to say he was now thinking it was 2014, the first year in which one could indisputably claim that he was the sport’s fastest man, riding to 13 wins including four at the Tour and two at the Giro d’Italia. But when we begin what will prove to be a very enjoyable interview, he reveals an answer we aren’t expecting.

“I’ve really thought a lot about this,” the German chuckles. “I think I take experiences as a professional as the mark to go by. So, if you take everything together in terms of experience, development and victories, my best year was 2011.”

What happened that year? His trademark blonde hair cut shorter and aged 22, Kittel was a neo-pro with Skil-Shimano. Signed originally as a time trialist, he ended it as the sport’s emerging sprint sensation, clocking up a career-record of 17 wins in one single campaign, five of which came in WorldTour races including one in the Vuelta a España. 

He summarises: “2011 had a big impact on my career. I made a huge transition from a nobody to somebody who was a favourite in sprints. That year defined my career; the development I made that year I used as a base for everything that happened afterwards. Without that year, I’d have left the sport much earlier.” 

Kittel had finished his 2010 season with third place in the U23 time trial at the World Championships in Australia. Skil-Shimano of the Pro-Continental second division, however, were the only team to offer him a professional contract, noting his talent against the clock but also viewing him as a potential valuable addition to their lead-out team, currently working for Kenny van Hummel.

He had no expectations. “I didn’t know what would happen, but knew I had to take the chance and see how it worked out. It was my only opportunity to be a pro and everything was so exciting.”

Read the full article in the January 21 issue of Cycling Weekly magazine

He began his season in Malaysia at the Tour de Langkawi, and he was emanating the emotion of novel joy that all young travellers can associate to, where every foreign object and happening is exhilarating, even if it’s mundane to the initiated. “It was a crazy experience. It was only my second time outside of Europe, my first time to Asia, and it sounded really exotic. I was thinking ‘wow, let’s just enjoy this.’”

He was part of Van Hummel’s lead-out train but he suffered in the heat. “Actually, no, I just had no idea what I was doing!” he laughs. The team suggested that he replaced Van Hummel in the sprint for the following stages. Remarkably, he won the third stage. “It was mind-blowing. I never expected that I could go and get a result there, and suddenly I was a winner within three stages of my career. For the whole team, it came as a shock. I was supposedly part of the lead-out team so no one knew that this could or would happen.”

Read the rest of this feature in the January 21 issue of Cycling Weekly magazine. If you're staying in you can subscribe to CW at an introductory rate of £24.99 for 12 issues to see if you like it. If not, you can then cancel. You can also now order single issues of the magazine to be delivered to your door. 

Few bike riders in the history of the sport have been as fast as Marcel Kittel. But after racking up 14 Tour de France stages and 89 professional wins, his early retirement in August last year, aged just 31, left many fans in a state of confused disappointment. Why was one of the greatest sprinters ever hanging up his racing wheels while still in his prime? Now, one year on, Kittel has opened up to CW about his decision – with important insights for us all, racers and armchair critics alike. 

“Most people, 99 per cent of those who’ve not been a pro, cannot understand the sport and everything it involves. It is such an extreme sport and what it does to you physically and mentally,” Kittel tells me over the phone. “Pro cycling is the only sport that takes fatigue to such extremes. That’s the whole concept of the sport, but it makes it extremely difficult to handle.”

The German reminds us that the attritional nature of cycling is also its core principle. 

“It defines the whole sport. You train to get tired to become better for the next race in which the idea is that you will become tired later than the rest. And at the end of the race, the strongest one will be the one who is the least tired. There is no other sport like it... and it has consequences.”

The ramifications for Kittel were obvious: he wasn’t happy. 

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“In 2018 I counted 250 nights away from my own bed. I hadn’t had time with my family.” It was having an impact on his motivation. “It got to the point in 2019 where I realised everything was just repeating… [Nothing was] really new to me or challenging or what I wanted to do. I couldn’t reinvent experiences for myself.”

The passion and excitement of the sport had been worn away by repetitive hard grind, leaving only the sense of being a hamster on a treadmill. 

“When you realise that the hobby you turned into your profession is becoming more than a job, you see the sport in a different way. I felt I was in the wrong place.”

Kittel’s Instagram bio states: “My recipe for happiness is bicycles, family and a big portion of curiosity.” He speaks perfect English and chooses his words with the precision of a philosopher – you get the impression he would be just as at-home reading Wittgenstein as smashing out 1,000 watts down a finishing straight. 

“It’s important to reflect on how hard the sport is, and what it demands from you. Understanding what the balance should be is difficult: you can have a hard training period, but then how do you recover?”

The key for Kittel was his training environment. 

“I needed a good group and the right atmosphere around me, and when I had that, I felt unbeatable. But I know from experience that other characters and teams have a different mindset.” He is alluding here to the troubled latter part of his career at Katusha-Alpecin, which neither he nor the team wishes to speak about further. 

The sport is evolving, but it requires further improvements. 

“We shouldn’t perceive talking about feelings as a weakness. Talking about it plays a big role in success. When you’re extremely tired, you’re vulnerable. It’s easy to suddenly not feel happy in the sport.” 

It’s the job of support staff, in Kittel’s view, to spot when riders are struggling, and step in.

“The teams have to make the riders human, the centre of attention, and create an environment that really helps them to deal with the extremes they face, such as extreme fatigue. It’s happening already but it needs to be enforced.”

He is reluctant to proffer advice to other riders. “Everyone needs to find out for himself what he needs, how to get it and where they can find it. Maybe you need a big change in your personal life to find it.” 

That is what Kittel needed: he wanted to move to the next stage of his life. Thirty-two, the age he is now, might be a few years shy of veteran status in the sport, but in real-life terms, it’s young – most people in their early-30s are still building their careers.

The negative associations surrounding early retirement from sport need to be de-stigmatised, believes Kittel. 

“I didn’t have a mid-life crisis; I came to the point in my life where I wanted something else in my life. We need to look at [early retirement] in a positive way as the moment when you realise you want a change. You make the best out of it, try to find what you want, and that’s what happened to me.” 

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With his partner Tess, Kittel is still adapting to parenthood – their son Lex was born last December. He is also studying economics, and still rides his bike most days, just for general health. 

“I am really happy and am enjoying my time with my family. It’s a big, new experience for me to make the transition from a pro cyclist’s life to a normal life, but it was the right time to finish my career.” You get the sense from Kittel that he genuinely has no regrets. “I am proud and happy with everything I achieved, but I was ready for something new. I knew I was becoming a dad, and it was the right moment for a fresh start.”

Team-mate’s view - ‘We’ve learnt the need to decompress’

One of Kittel’s most trusted team-mates for five years, 40-year-old Dutchman Roy Curvers, shares his thoughts.

“As a cyclist, you cannot have a period of complete rest, of switching off your mind off completely, and Marcel missed that. But the sport is heading in a direction of knowing that having periods of decompression is more healthy. 

“Ten years ago, riders did 100 race days, sometimes 110, and now the average is between 70 and 80, so that’s a month’s less racing. We’re starting to think better and realise that a rider should only have three or four highlights a year, and also have time to decompress, to spend time with your family, do nice things, go on holidays. Both are important.”

This feature originally appeared in the print edition of Cycling Weekly, on sale in newsagents and supermarkets, priced £3.25.

Marcel Kittel has said Tom Dumoulin leaving Sunweb mid-season was "no surprise" to him.

The German raced with Dumoulin for four seasons from 2012 to 2015, when Sunweb was called Giant-Alpecin, and his final season with the WorldTour team was similarly marred by injury and a lack of form, just as Dumoulin's 2019 has been, with a crash in the early stages of the Giro d'Italia derailing his season.

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Kittel has placed the blame with Sunweb CEO and owner Iwan Spekenbrink, claiming he was good at bringing young riders through the ranks but couldn't fully unlock their potential as team leaders.

The 31-year-old says this applies to not only himself and Dumoulin, but also Warren Barguil and John Degenkolb. Barguil left the team in 2018 for Arkéa-Samsic, the season after taking the polka dot jersey at the Tour de France, and Degenkolb departed in 2017 for Trek-Segafredo having enjoyed his most successful season in 2015 when he won Paris-Roubaix and Milan - San Remo.

"That Dumoulin wanted to leave was no surprise to me," Kittel told In De Leiderstrui. "Spekenbrink forges a team for young riders and they are guided very well. But if riders become leaders then you have to give them some freedom. They apparently find that very difficult for the team.

"It started with me, but you saw the same problem arise with Warren Barguil and John Degenkolb. Then it was Tom."

Speaking on his own struggles with the team, Kittel relived his painful 2015 when he was plagued by a virus in the early season, struggling to finish races, before not being selected for the 2015 Tour de France. His transfer to Etixx - Quick-Step was then announced in October later that year.

"I suffered the most in 2015. I had renewed my contract after four stages in the Tour, but suddenly nothing worked. I had a lot of pressure that year. That eats on you, haunts you.

"I was depressed. Until the Tour, team boss Iwan Spekenbrink and I tried to find a solution, but it didn't work out. I no longer felt good with the team and applied for a contract termination in September. It started with Pfeiffer's disease, then we grew apart."

Kittel is currently enjoying retirement and preparing for the birth of his son, while also speaking openly about the mental health issues he dealt with during his professional career.

Dumoulin, meanwhile, is currently recovering from the knee injury that thwarted his 2019 season, and will race in 2020 at a Jumbo-Visma squad packed with GC talent, including Vuelta a España winner Primož Roglič and Steven Kruijswijk, who finished on the podium of this year's Tour.

Following his retirement from cycling in August, Marcel Kittel has shared his post-peloton plans in an eye-opening interview, also revealing he believes he may have suffered from depression during his racing career.

Kittel has been up front about his thought process since parting ways with former team Katusha-Alpecin in May, before officially retiring in August, giving an insight into the toll that elite sport can take on a person.

>>> Alberto Contador hospitalised with fever and stomach problems

Reliving difficult moments of his career with Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad, Kittel talks about the illness he suffered from at the start of the 2015 with Giant-Alpecin, a season that would eventually end with the German being released from the team.

After falling ill between the Santos Tour Down Under and the Tour of Qatar that year, Kittel was given time off to recover by his team and says this is the period in which he believes he may have suffered from depression.

"Only then did I really fall into a hole," he said. "I don't know how depressed people feel, but I think I went in that direction."

Discussing the struggles of the pressure that came with being one of, if not the best sprinter in the world, Kittel shares how competition demands no signs of weakness, something that now seems not human.

"I think in the entire top sport world if you honestly say that you have doubts, then you are weak, and you cannot show weakness. Even when you go to a psychologist, that is often seen as a weakness. That is not true."

After calling time on a demanding career, the 31-year-old says the adjustment period going from elite athlete to civilian will take some getting used to, and is a transition to treat with some trepidation.

"I have to make sure that I take the time to cool down," Kittel said. "From top athlete to normal life. That is difficult and that is why I try to find things in which I can put my energy.

>>> ‘Cycling is beautiful but professional sport is another story’: Marcel Kittel on his decision to retire at 31

"After traveling two hundred days a year, I can't suddenly sit at home. I do CrossFit twice a week in a group, it's very sociable. I also work for German television and I want to share my experiences with young riders."

Immediately after quitting Katusha-Alpecin, Kittel escaped to Ibiza for a week-long holiday with his girlfriend Tess von Piekartz, who will soon give birth to the couple's first child.

The German then travelled around Europe visiting people he met during his career who successfully rebuilt their lives following drastic changes in their situation.

One of these people was Werner Küchler, a German cycling fan Kittel met at the Tour de France who ran away from home aged 18 and arrived in Paris with only a single bag containing his belongings, which was soon stolen from him. Forty years after arriving in the French capital, Küchler is now the manager of a restaurant in one of the biggest hotels in Paris.

Kittel will soon refocus on work however, after having taken the time to re-find himself, and has enrolled at Constance University, which is within walking distance of his home on Lake Constance, situated on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps.

His girlfriend is also turning to study following her own career as a volleyball player, and will take up a course on holistic nutrition while Kittel enrols in an economics course.

The German hints he might start a business one day or maybe become a taxi driver for a year, saying: "Sometimes we judge people so quickly without knowing them. Maybe such a driver has just won the lottery but he prefers to keep driving rather than sit in a villa. Isn't that the ultimate jackpot if you can live so confidently?"

Marcel Kittel has shared more of his motivation for retiring from pro racing at 31.

The German powerhouse stepped away from the sport this summer, having struggled to find both motivation and results in recent seasons.

Kittel has been up front about his reasons for retiring, saying you have to invest everything into the bike to succeed.

In an interview with Spanish newspaper Marca at the Saitama Criterium, Kittel said: “Cycling is a beautiful sport, but professional sport is another story. You have to be very strong mentally to be able to withstand so much pressure.”

He added: “This is the most difficult sport in the world.

“You are tired all the time, in pain, and that has a very high cost.

“I felt like my head was going to explode.”

Kittel, the winner of 14 Tour de France stages, made the move to Katusha-Alpecin in 2018 but was never able to reach former heights.

During his two seasons with Katusha, Kittel won just three races – two stages of Tirreno-Adriatico last year and Trofeo Palma in February.

In May, Kittel and his team announced he had quit Katusha and would be taking a break from cycling, followed by the announcement in August that he was retiring altogether.

With a child on the way, Kittel said he didn’t want to watch his son grow up on Skype. He is now studying and says he had plans to establish a business.

Kittel is one of a handful of riders announcing retirement in 2019 during what should be their peak.

>>> Sunweb exodus continues as Tom Dumoulin’s trainer leaves team

After a being one of the most anticipated young talents in recent history, Taylor Phinney has announced his retirement at 29 after a career plagued by injury.

Former British champion Adam Blythe is also leaving the sport at 30, with the intention of spending more time with his family but continuing his involvement in cycling in another way.

Marcel Kittel has announced his retirement from cycling, nearly four months after quitting WorldTour team Katusha-Alpecin.

The german sprinter revealed his decision in an interview with German magazine Der Spiegel, saying he had "lost all motivation to keep torturing myself on a bike."

The 31-year-old recorded countless victories, including 14 stages of the Tour de France, but suffered a decline in form after moving to Katusha-Alpecin ahead of the 2018 season.

He won only two stages of Tirreno-Adriatico in 2018, and in 2019 only managed a victory at one-day race Trofeo Palma in February.

In May, it was announced that Kittel had quit Katusha-Alpecin and would be taking a break from cycling.

"The sport and the world you live in are defined by pain," Kittel said.

"You don't have time for family and friends, and then there's the perpetual tiredness and routine.

"As a cyclist, you are on the road for 200 days of the year. I didn't want to watch my son grow up via Skype."

Following the news breaking, Kittel uploaded a longer statement to his website, where he shared further details on his decision to climb off the bike for good.

"This decision process has not been a quick one, but has taken place over a longer time. During my nearly 20 year sports career there have been not only incredible successes but also difficult times. I have always been one to openly question and reflect when such things happen, so that I can learn and become better.

"That, together with the people around me, has made me the successful athlete that I now am, but this method has also taught to leave my old ways and learn new ones. I know that there is much more than just sport, for example my own future family.

"Recently the thought on this future without cycling has grown, as has the awareness of the sacrifices that such a beautiful but also very difficult sport like cycling brings with it. The biggest question of the last few months was 'Can I and do I want to continue to make the sacrifices needed to be a world-class athlete?' And my answer is: No, I do not want that any more, because I have always found the limitations on a top athlete as an increasing loss of quality of life.

"That is why I have a very happy and proud that at this point in my life I can make the decision to follow my heart in a new direction.

"At this point I would like to thank all the people who have supported me in my career. My former teammates, my trainers, my friends, and my family, but above all my fans for the incredible support in the last few years."

After Mark Cavendish was excluded from the Dimension Data Tour de France roster and Marcel Kittel took indefinite leave from the sport, how have the race's sprints changed?

Riders at the Tour explain how the absence of Kittel, who won 14 stages, and Cavendish, with 30 stages, has affected the 2019 edition.

>>> We spoke to the person who took 'that' picture of Geraint Thomas' Tour de France crash

"It's not that much different because there are other sprint trains, but certainly, you lack these big important sprinters who are important to the cycling world. However, the Tour remains hard," Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida) said.

"It's maybe more interesting because it's uncertain, before maybe you'd know that Cavendish was so strong and that he'd win. Now, there's uncertainty, there's Elia Viviani, Dylan Groenewegen, Caleb Ewan... Life always goes on."

Kittel raced with Katusha until this spring. The German, 31, will decide later if he will race again or not.

Dimension Data's boss Doug Ryder left Cavendish off the team even though performance director Rolf Aldag said he was more than ready to compete for sprints.

"The riders come and go, that's normal with age. The Tour de France stays," Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) said.

"Like every year, we can see some new faces coming through."

Both Mike Teunissen (Jumbo-Visma) and Elia Viviani (Deceuninck-Quick Step) won their first Tour stages in sprints. Sagan and Groenewegen added more to their palmarès.

"I think the sprints are maybe less organised. When you have those big sprinters here, they also bring lead-outs so the sprinters are more controlled and less chaos," Michael Matthews (Sunweb) said.

"It's a totally different sprint really. Now it's really just messy and who every can get to the front at the right time has a really good shot. Yeah, it's a different style, not good or bad.

"Whether it's good or bad, we don't know, you can only race the guys who are in the race."

Everyone agreed, the Tour remains hard and success is difficult to come by regardless if Cavendish and Kittel race.

"It's significant, lacking different riders of that calibre, Kittel and Cavendish, you feel it a bit, but that difficulty and fatigue hasn't changed at all!" said Sagan's lead-out man, Daniel Oss.

"It's always the same work and level is still so high..

"The world keeps spinning, a new generation emerges. You mention those sprinters, but now there are others, completely new. Cycling keeps going. And nothing changes with the speed or the difficulty of these stages."

Those who know Marcel Kittel say that they are uncertain if he could ever race and sprint for wins again.

Kittel took an indefinite leave from cycling and left Katusha-Alpecin this spring after suffering over the last year and a half with illness or other issues.

The big German, winner of 14 sprints in the Tour de France and yellow jersey wearer, was reported to be joining Jumbo-Visma. However a deal that would see him alongside Dylan Groenewegen is unlikely, the team's management told Cycling Weekly.

>>> Katusha-Alpecin boss denies rumours that team will fold

Some have drawn the conclusion because Kittel's long-time coach and sports director, from Team Argos/Skil-Shimano days, Merijn Zeeman works now with Jumbo-Visma.

The team appears more interested in signing Dutchman Tom Dumoulin. However, on the record, they would only say that the Grand Tour star – winner of the 2017 Giro d'Italia and second to Geraint Thomas (Ineos) in the 2018 Tour de France – needs to free himself from his Team Sunweb contract before any deals can be done.

Kittel will come to the Tour de France on Friday to work for German television. The 31-year-old has been riding little since calling quits to his career on May 9, with the biggest ride since on his mountain bike, which he posted on social media.

He is staying close to his partner as they prepare for the arrival of their baby. He continues to live near the shores of Lake Constance, on the Swiss side that is also home to several Formula One pilots.

Returning to team Katusha-Alpecin seems out of the question. He had also fallen out with the upper management of the Russian-Swiss team, which insiders say was "too old-school" in its approach to cycling. Since he left, Katusha-Alpecin have not been paying him his salary.

Kittel said that he "will put my happiness and joy above everything."

At Jumbo-Visma, former Katusha team-mate and fellow German, Tony Martin receives some messages from Kittel. The Jumbo-Visma team also received a message of congratulations when they won on day one of the Tour de France with Mike Teunissen and on day two in the team time trial.

Marcel Kittel could sign with Dutch WorldTour team Jumbo-Visma according to reports.

German sprint superstar Kittel has taken a step back from the sport after splitting with Katusha-Alpecin mid-season.

The 31-year-old has struggled to reach previous heights in recent years, announcing last month that he had quit the Swiss outfit saying “at this moment I am not able to train and race at the highest level.”

But Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf reports there may already be interest in Kittel from a new team.

>>> Paris-Roubaix under-23 rider suffers gruesome wound to his leg he says was caused by disc brake

Jumbo-Visma sports director Merijn Zeeman is believed to be interested in bringing Kittel on board, after the pair had great success while working together at Argos-Shimano.

Kittel is one of the greatest sprinters of his generation, having won 14 stages of the Tour de France, including five stages in the 2017 edition alone.

But he has struggled to perform after leaving Belgian super-team Deceuninck - Quick-Step at the end of that season.

We won just three races during his 17-month stint with Katusha-Alpecin, which caused a public breakdown of relations with team management.

This season he was pulled from the Tour de Yorkshire at the last minute and was not included in the squad for the Tour of California, shortly before the team announced his immediate departure.

Announcing the decision to quit the team, Kittel said: “In the last two months I have had the feeling of being exhausted.

>>> Tom Pidcock becomes first British winner of Paris-Roubaix U23

“At this moment, I am not able to train and race at the highest level. For this reason, I have decided to take a break and take time for myself, think about my goals and make a plan for my future.”

He recently provided an update on his life since leaving the team, saying he had taken time for himself and is “doing well.”

Jumbo-Visma has developed into one of the most versatile team in the peloton, with genuine Grand Tour contenders like Primož Roglič and Steven Kruijswijk being bolstered by star sprinter Dylan Groenewegen and Classics specialist Wout Van Aert.

A month after quitting  Katusha-Alpecin, Marcel Kittel has provided an update on how he is doing.

Having announced that he was to take a break from racing in May, Kittel posted a video on his Instagram story, saying he thought it was time to give fans an update as to how he is getting on.

Kittel said: "So, I've been offline for a while, I had some obvious reasons, just took some time for myself but it's time to give an update again I think.

"I'm fine, I'm doing well."

The 30-year-old filmed the video from a forest in his home German state of Thuringia, saying: "Today I'm on a mountain bike at home in Germany in Thuringia, and there is the famous Rennsteig [trail] it's usually used for hiking but also for mountain biking.

He then says that he's there taking a trip with friends: "I'm going to do that [trail] in two days with some friends, 170km."

In the video, Kittel goes on to give some background information about his home state, as well as posting selfies, footage of his unshaven legs, as well as documenting his choice of cake at a café stop.

On May 9, the German announced he would be leaving his Katusha-Alpecin team, after struggling to find form in 2019, which culminated in a public falling out with the Swiss outfit.

Kittel had been due to ride the Tour de Yorkshire but pulled out at the last minute and was not included in the team’s line-up for the upcoming Tour of California.

He said in a statement at the time: "On my request, Katusha-Alpecin and I have mutually decided to an early termination of my current contract.

"In the last two months I have had the feeling of being exhausted.

"At this moment, I am not able to train and race at the highest level. For this reason, I have decided to take a break and take time for myself, think about my goals and make a plan for my future."

John Degenkolb has weighed in on Marcel Kittel’s premature exit from cycling, saying the happiness of his German compatriot and former team-mate is more important than a future in the sport.

Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo) came through the ranks with the embattled Kittel, both rising to WorldTour prominence with early incarnations of Team Sunweb.

“I’m in touch with him and I help him as good as I can. It’s very important to stick together. We’ve been through so many great and also bad moments in our lives and it’s not, even if he stops cycling now, or he doesn’t come back, it doesn’t mean his life is over,” said Degenkolb.

The 14-time Tour de France stage winner Kittel on Thursday released a statement announcing his split from Katusha-Alpecin - who he joined last season - and leave from cycling.

“On my request Team Katusha-Alpecin and I mutually decided to an early termination of my current contract,” it read. “In the last two months I have had the feeling of being exhausted. At this moment, I am not able to train and race at the highest level. For this reason, I have decided to take a break and time for myself, think about my goals and make a plan for my future.”

Kittel went from winning 14 races with former team Quick-Step in 2017 - including five stages of the Tour de France in which virtually all his rivals mentally ceded – to two in his first year with Katusha-Alpecin that in total took just four scalps following a roster overhaul.

The 31-year-old Kittel recently described his debut season with the outfit as “black”.

“You know after 2018, I learned again what a business it is we are in,” he told Procycling Magazine. “A lot of it was black in 2018. I don’t have to hide that. It goes very quick that you feel you’re on your own, and then it’s hard to see the reasons why you’re actually doing this.”

Kittel started the season with the aim of ascending back to the top of the sprint hierarchy and won his second race of the year but faded thereafter.

Asked if he believed whether the five-time Scheldeprijs champion would return to the WorldTour later this year with another team, or in future, Degenkolb said it was irrelevant.

“I think the question is not right now if he comes back in cycling or not. The question, or the main focus, should be he comes to the point that he enjoys what he does. It doesn’t matter what it is,” Degenkolb said.

The former Paris-Roubaix champion said Kittel’s hardship was not something he could personally relate to.

“In these situations, it’s very hard to put yourself in that position because every time it’s different,” he said.

Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) has paid tribute to his long-term rival Marcel Kittel after the German quit his Katusha-Alpecin team to take a break from racing.

Cavendish, who has won 30 stages of the Tour de France, said Kittel was "the first rider he ever had to 'work out' how to try and beat" in a series of tweets paying tribute to the sprinter.

The Manxman wrote: "For many years of my career I felt unbeatable, invincible. One rider came that changed that. A mountain of pure muscle and blonde hair. That rider is Marcel Kittel.

"It seemed like cycling's version of Rocky IV. He was the first rider I ever had to 'work out' how to try and beat. Marcel, I want to say thank you for a rivalry that lifted my game, but above all gave an excitement to cycling fans.

"As competitors, we all try to have an edge on each other. But as humans, we should only wish for peace and happiness for each other. From my heart, I wish you all the best for your next chapter."

Kittel has struggled for form in recent seasons, only managing two wins in 2018, both in Tirreno-Adriatico, and one victory at Challenge Mallorca this year. The rider recently admitted he was going through "a difficult period" after being dropped on the flats of Scheldeprijs in April, finishing 99th and 4-30 down at a race he has previously won five times.

This performance forced his team to call a crisis meeting over the sprinter's condition, with Kittel then planning to get his season back on track at the Tour de Yorkshire before failing to take the start line in Barnsley.

On May 9, Katusha-Alpecin confirmed the 30-year-old would be leaving the Swiss team.

Kittel said in a statement: "On my request, Katusha-Alpecin and I have mutually decided to an early termination of my current contract.

"In the last two months I have had the feeling of being exhausted. At this moment, I am not able to train and race at the highest level. For this reason, I have decided to take a break and take time for myself, think about my goals and make a plan for my future."

Marcel Kittel has quit Katusha-Alpecin and will take a break from racing.

The German sprinter has struggled to compete in recent seasons, which resulted in a public dispute with his team last month.

Kittel had been due to ride the Tour de Yorkshire but pulled out at the last minute and was not included in the team's line-up for the upcoming Tour of California.

Katusha-Alpecin confirmed on Thursday morning (May 9) that Kittel would be leaving the Swiss outfit.

>>> Five things to look out for in first week of Giro d’Italia 2019

The 30-year-old said in a statement: “On my request, Katusha-Alpecin and I have mutually decided to an early termination of my current contract.

“In the last two months I have had the feeling of being exhausted.

“At this moment, I am not able to train and race at the highest level. For this reason, I have decided to take a break and take time for myself, think about my goals and make a plan for my future.”

Kittel, the winner of 14 Tour de France stages, has not been able to reach the same level in recent seasons.

Last year he took just two wins – both in Tirreno-Adriatico in March – and has only reached the top step once this season, in the Challenge Mallorca.

After Kittel was dropped on the flats of Scheldeprijs last month, a race he has won five times previously, Katusha-Alpecin began planning a crisis meeting to discuss his failing form.

Sports director on the team Dimitri Konyshev went a step further in the press, saying “we pay him a lot of money but he is only interested in himself.”

Konyshev’s comments prompted an incensed response from Kittel social media, as he criticised those “making headlines on his cost.”

In the statement released on Thursday, he added: “It was for me a long decision process where I raised a lot of questions about how and where I want to go as a person and athlete and what is really important to me.

“I love cycling and my passion for this beautiful sport is never gone, but I also know what it requires from me and what I need to do to be successful.

“Despite all the insecurities, I’ve got confidence that I ultimately will find new chances and challenges.

“This is the biggest challenge of my career and I’m accepting it.”

>>> Mark Cavendish to ride Tour of California

Kittel thanked his team for supporting him during his 16-month spell at Katusha and said he plans to return to riding and racing in the future.

Team general manager José Azevedo said: “It is with sadness that we have agreed with Marcel’s request to step away from the team and from racing.

“We understand the situation in which Marcel is and we fully support him in this difficult time.

“All the team members will continue supporting Marcel in the future and we hope that he will soon get back to racing as the champion he is.”

Marcel Kittel (Katusha-Alpecin) is to race the 2019 Tour de Yorkshire, the rider has confirmed.

The German is looking to kick start his year after a disappointing early season, with the German admitting he was going through "a difficult period" after finishing 99th and 4-30 down in Scheldeprijs, a race he has previously won five times.

Kittel began 2019 with a win in the Trofeo Palma at Challenge Mallorca but has not crossed the finish line first since. At the UAE Tour his best finish was third and he then abandoned Paris-Nice halfway through the race. The 30-year-old then failed to contest the bunch sprint at Driedaagse Brugge-De Panne, followed by a disappointing performance at Scheldedprijs, which forced his team to call a "crisis meeting" over the rider's poor form.

The sprinter responded to this, saying: "Always easy to beat a man when he’s on the ground. I’m facing a difficult period and I’m thankful for everyone who is supporting me now. To those people making headlines on my cost now: enjoy your minute of fame!"

The 14-time Tour de France stage winner last took the start line in Yorkshire at the inaugural edition of the race in 2015. The year before, the German took one of his Tour de France stage wins at the Grand Depart in Yorkshire, wearing the yellow jersey on stage two between York and Sheffield.

>>> Tour de Yorkshire 2019 route: maps and profiles of every stage

Kittel said: "It’s going to be nice to be back in Yorkshire because of all the memories I have from 2014. It's a great experience to race there in front of all those spectators and I'm looking forward to it."

Other big names who have recently announced they will race the 2019 Tour de Yorkshire include British road race champion Connor Swift (Madison Genesis) and world TT champion Annemiek van Vleuten (Mitchelton-Scott) will take the start in Barnsley in the women's race.

Fourteen-time Tour de France stage winner Marcel Kittel has hit back at critics after Katusha-Alpecin said they'd be holding a "crisis meeting" with their rider after his poor run of form.

Kittel said: "Always easy to beat a man when he's on the ground. I'm facing a difficult period and I'm thankful for everyone who is supporting me now. To those people making headlines on my cost now: enjoy your minute of fame!"

The German was dropped on the flats during Wednesday's Scheldeprijs and finished 99th in a race he has previously won five times.

After Kittel's disappointing performance, Katusha-Alpecin sports director Dirk Demol told Het Nieuwsblad: "We can’t keep looking for excuses. We need to talk urgently. In the coming weeks we will be sitting together with Marcel, his trainers and the team management. A crisis meeting."

Dimitri Konyshev, another sports director on the team, told L’Equipe: "We pay him a lot of money but he is only interested in himself. [Ahead of the stage], he was playing with his phone during the team meeting, to let me know he wasn’t interested in what I was saying."

Kittel is set to line up for both the Tour of Yorkshire and the Tour of California as he prepares for the Tour de France.

However, Demol said the team needs to get the 30-year-old back on track before he thinks about races: "Marcel is and remains a racer, but at the moment he is simply not good enough. It can’t go on like this."

Taylor Phinney (EF Education First) offered his supported to Kittel, who has only won three races out of 91 total career wins since joining Katusha-Alpecin in 2018, saying: "Even if you quit tomorrow, you will always be a legend in this sport Marcel. No one can take this away from you.

"Keep your head up, be proud of who you are and what you stand for. Do what you do for you and the people that you love."

Katusha-Alpecin management are planning a "crisis meeting" with their star sprinter Marcel Kittel over his recent run of poor form.

The German, a five-time winner of Scheldeprijs, was dropped on the flats and finished 99th on Wednesday. Since joining Katusha, he has yet to find that same spark that saw him win 14 stages in the Tour de France.

"We can't keep looking for excuses. We need to talk urgently," sports director Dirk Demol told Het Nieuwsblad after the finish.

"We can't keep hiding. In the coming weeks we will be sitting together with Marcel, his trainers and the team management. A crisis meeting."

Already last season, the team and Kittel seemed to be at a breaking point just before he left the Tour de France.

"We pay him a lot of money but he is only interested in himself," sports director Dimitri Konyshev told L'Equipe at the time. "[Ahead of the stage], he was playing with his phone during the team meeting, to let me know he wasn't interested in what I was saying."

Kittel, 30 years old, counts 91 wins but only three of those are in Katusha's red kit. He joined the team at the beginning of 2018 and his current contract ends this season.

In the Tour, he place third on stage one and fifth on stage four before missing the time cut on stage 11 with other sprinters including Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data).

Kittel is due to race the Tour of Yorkshire and the Tour of California as he builds for the 2019 Tour.

"But before he thinks of races, we have to try to get him back on track," added Demol after Scheldeprijs.

"Marcel is and remains a racer, but at the moment he is simply not good enough. It can't go on like this."

Former Belgian rider Jürgen Van Den Broeck said on a Sporza live chat that Kittel's "head is not right" at the moment for cycling.

"Anyone who is a little professional and trains should be able to follow this race," he said during the Scheldeprijs.

"He is simply fading away. That is sad for someone like Kittel, who is not that old yet. I think his head isn't right. It is not that he has many setbacks. He has to look within himself. And I doubt if he still enjoys what he's doing. "

There's nothing more frustrating than your bike breaking right in the thick of the action. And what's more, when there's no-one around to help you fix it or give you a new one, you can see your chances of winning fly right out of the window.

So there's no better way of showing your frustration than giving your formerly trusted steed a good sling into the nearby bushes.

Here we've rounded up the ever evolving list of the best bike throws from recent times. And we're not talking about the clever trick to win a sprint, but an angrier version.

1. Jack Bauer, 2015

The Cannondale-Garmin rider had already been battling gale force winds and expending a lot of energy just to stay in touch with the splintered peloton at Ghent-Wevelgem back in 2016, and the feed zone must have been a bit of welcome relief from the stress of the race.

Well, until another rider's discarded jacket got wrapped around his gears and forced him to come to an abrupt, sliding halt.

Ironically, the offending jacket becomes dislodged pretty easily as the bike is making its way to the ditch.

Distance: 8/10

Style: 6/10

Aggression: 9/10

Total: 23/30

2. Jeremy Santucci, 2016

Track-bike-in-a-crit rider Jeremy Santucci turned the aggression up to 11 with this outburst. His bike had already been damaged in a crash at the Red Hook Criterium in Milan when he made sure it wouldn't race again.

Understandably annoyed about crashing out of a race he'd work hard to be competitive in, Santucci threw his bike to the ground with such force that the frame was left in two very separate pieces.

By virtue of it being a track bike, there weren't any brake of gear cables to keep the now severed parts at all connected.

If it hadn't been for the distance Jack Bauer managed to launch his bike, Santucci's effort would have gone straight in at number one.

Distance: 4/10

Style: 7/10

Aggression: 11/10

Total: 22/30

3. Bradley Wiggins, 2013

No such list would be complete without the famous 'bike park' trick Bradley Wiggins pulled out of his sleeve at the 2013 Giro del Trentino.  He couldn't have done that if he tried.

Distance: 6/10

Style: 11/10

Aggression: 6/10

Total: 23/30

4. Bjarne Riis, 1997

Defending champion Bjarne Riis unleashed all his fury on his malfunctioning bike at the final time trial of the 1997 Tour de France.

Now we know the performance enhancing drugs worked on his throwing abilities, too.

Distance: 9/10

Style: 4/10

Aggression: 8/10

Total: 21/30

5. Marcel Kittel, 2014

Giant-Shimano's sprinter slammed his, er, Giant bicycle down on the ground like the Incredible Hulk. Clearly not quite sure what to do with himself, he then goes for a lie down.

Distance: 3/10

Style: 7/10

Aggression: 10/10

Total: 20/30

6. David Millar, 2008

There was no hanging about here. Denied an all but certain win on stage five of the 2008 Giro d'Italia, the then British champion David Millar knew exactly what to do.

Distance: 6/10

Style: 7/10

Aggression: 7/10

Total: 20/30

7. Tom Dumoulin, 2018

Cover your ears, children, there's a bit of bad language in this one as Tom Dumoulin suffers mechanical problems for the second successive stage at the Abu Dhabi Tour. Dumoulin's effort seems to have all the right ingredients for a good bike throw, but unfortunately the bike seems to slip out of his hands as he tries to throw it in the air, making for a slightly pathetic effort before his high-pitched profanities secure him a low score.

Distance: 2/10

Style: 1/10

Aggression: 5/10

Total: 8/30

9. Elisa Longo Borghini, 2019

Things got heated in the women's edition of Driedaagse Brugge-De Panne, when Elisa Longo Borghini was caught in a crash during the Belgian one-day race.

Unfortunately, her bike became tangled under the machine of Bigla rival Elizabeth Banks who was also involved in the collision.

Borghini wouldn't let that slow her down however, as she tore Banks' bike up and threw it across the road before remounting her bike and pedalling on.

To make matters worse, she almost collided with a team car as she got going again.

Channelling Marcel Kittel, Borghini apologised on Twitter very promptly.

Distance: 8/10

Style: 6/10

Agression: 3/10

Total: 17/30

Honourable mentions

Mario Cipollini, 2003

Ok, so it's not technically a bike. But who can forget Cipo chucking his toys out of the pram at the 2003 edition of Ghent-Wevelgem?

Bernard Hinault, 1984

How does Bernard Hinault put an end to unwanted industrial action at the 1984 Paris-Nice?  Ride into them at full pelt before throwing out the knuckle sandwiches, that's how.

The original version of this story by Richard Abraham first appeared online in March 2014, and was then updated by Alex Ballinger in 2019.

Marcel Kittel has responded to the blood doping revelations after his former team-mate was caught up in the scandal.

A police investigation into doping in endurance skiing has hit the professional peloton, as two Austrian riders have admitted their involvement.

Former Aqua Blue Sport rider Stefan Denifl and Groupama-FDJ’s Georg Preidler have both been caught up in the scandal, which unravelled after police raids in Austria and Germany last week.

The UCI has taken the decision to provisionally suspend the two riders, as Kittel says the revelations “are a slap in the face to clean athletes like him."

>>> Georg Preidler’s team manager on blood doping scandal: ‘You have to keep your eyes open’ 

In a statement posted on his website, Katusha-Alpecin’s Kittel said: “As a pro cyclist, I am always confronted with the topic of doping. I can’t blame anyone for that, when you look at the history of cycling and other endurance sports.

“Nevertheless, I have always tried to be a good example and transparent.

“It is a slap in the face to all clean athletes like me, sports fans, and all the passionate volunteer trainers, caregivers and helpers who support the sport with their heart and soul.”

Kittel and Preidler rode together in the Argos-Shimano team, now Sunweb, until 2015 when the former left for Quick-Step.

The scandal began to unravel last week, when police raided 16 properties and arrested nine people in connection with blood doping in the Nordic skiing World Championships in Seefeld, Austria.

Police operations were carried out in Seefeld and in Erfurt, Germany and 40 blood bags were seized.

A number of skiers were arrested, alongside German doctor Mark Schmidt who was linked to the former Gerolsteiner cycling team.

Gerolsteiner folded in 2008 after a number of doping scandals.

Video footage emerged after the raids, showing Austrian skier Max Hauke allegedly being interrupted by police in the middle of a blood transfusion.

While investigating the doctor, police encountered Denifl according to Austrian media and he later admitted doping in a police interview.

Preidler then announced his “spontaneous and immediate” resignation to his Groupama-FDJ team on Sunday (March 3), having pulled out of the weekend’s racing.

The Austrian quit the team after he admitted to extracting blood to re-infuse it at a later date.

Kittel, who grew up in Erfurt, added: “I find it tragic that a handful of people can do so much damage to the image of German sports and my hometown.”

>>> Former Aqua Blue Sport rider Stefan Denifl ‘confesses to blood doping in police interview’ 

After the details of blood doping surfaced, the UCI said the investigation was not aimed at cycling so the governing body was not implicated.

In a later statement, released on Tuesday (March 5), the UCI said it had received further information regarding the case and had decided to provisionally suspend both Preidler and Denifl with immediate affect.

The organisation added it “will not comment further on any of these matters.”

In his response, Kittel asked how athletes like Preidler can be helped to stop them doping.

Marcel Kittel has spoken of the “extraordinary” transformation of his former lead-out rider Tom Dumoulin.

Superstar sprinter Kittel and Dumoulin rode together for four seasons at Giant-Shimano, which later evolved into current WorldTour outfit Team Sunweb.

During their time as team-mates between 2012 and 2015, Dumoulin rode as a lead-out rider for Kittel, helping him to win eight Tour de France stages.

>>> Elia Viviani: ‘We want to show we can beat everyone’

Kittel, now 30, left the Argos team to ride for Quick-Step in 2016 while Dumoulin stayed, going on to win the 2017 Giro d’Italia.

Katusha-Alpecin’s Kittel told Cycling Weekly: “I always enjoyed being on the team with Tom.

“I had great success with him early in my team. He was always a very loyal team-mate and also a strong character.

"For me, it’s not really a surprise that he ended up where he is now.”

Kittel continued his winning ways after he left the team, taking his tally of Tour wins up to 14.

Dumoulin’s career has gradually flowered, as he won his first Grand Tour stages at the 2015 Vuelta a España.

He came within days of winning the general classification that year in Spain, but dramatically lost the lead to Fabio Aru (UAE Team Emirates) on stage 19, finishing sixth overall.

Since then the Dutchman, who once rode as the fourth man in front of Kittel in the sprint train, has become one of the most watched Grand Tour contenders in the professional peloton.

In 2017  a new dawn came for Dumoulin’s career, as he won the Giro d’Italia – his first three-week victory so far.

>>> ‘These are my best years, I want the opportunities’: Sam Bennett considering future after Giro & Tour omission

Kittel added: “It’s quite extraordinary if you think about how he developed from getting out of this position and becoming a Grand Tour winner, I think it’s really cool.

“It’s great to have been a part of that.”

“It’s easy to say afterwards, but him winning Grand Tours is not a surprise.

“There was always this expectation, but the fact that he went on to do it is a different story.

“That’s great for him and also for the team to develop in that direction.”

Marcel Kittel (Katusha-Alpecin) takes a valuable lesson away from 2018 - that a career trajectory doesn't always climb.

The German brings that into his 2019 season, having already taken a victory in the Challenge Mallorca.

Kittel, 14-time stage winner and yellow jersey holder in the Tour de France, continues his season this week in the UAE Tour.

With three sprints on offer he hopes to show he is back on the right track.

>>> Mark Cavendish: ‘I’ll see what I can do in the sprints at UAE Tour, but we’re here for the GC’

"I've had a very nice career so far, I've learned now again that the career doesn't only go upwards, but it sometimes goes down," Kittel told Cycling Weekly.

"I don't know what's going to happen in 2019, but I can tell you that I learned from 2018. I'm also happy about the experience because it grounds you, puts you back to zero in your head, helps you think about what you really want."

Kittel made the switch from Quick-Step to Katusha-Alpecin in 2018 and won only two stages of Tirreno-Adriatico - a disappointing season by his former standard.

He wanted to take his same winning sprint to the team, but something did not click immediately.

The team worked to perfect the train, but Kittel rarely fired to the win.

He left the Tour early and ended the 2018 season after one stage of the Tour of Germany in August. The experience helped him reset over the winter.

"You enjoy what is important in your life and if this is the lesson that I get from it, even if the season is not going to be good again then that's already enough and it takes pressure away from me," he said. "I know that I can be relaxed now going into the new season."

Kittel won the Trofeo Palma in Spain's Challenge Mallorca - the long break helped him "get that feeling back."

"The main thing for me is that I had enough time," he said. "I finished my season early, I started my training in the beginning of October when I'd normally just end my season. That gave me four to five weeks more of training. I was very happy about it, that I had that chance."

Kittel will build towards the Tour de France with the Tirreno-Adriatico stage race next month. He will likely not race Milan-San Remo and instead a few Belgian one-day races like Scheldeprijs heading towards July.

>>> Primož Roglič takes lead in UAE Tour as Jumbo-Visma win opening team time trial

He will aim to build on a palmarès that already includes four stages in the Giro d'Italia and 14 in the Tour de France.

Sprinting legend Mario Cipollini recently said that Kittel remains the most talented sprinter in the world.

"Did he say that?! Oh, thank you. I guess that's a big complement," Kittel said.

"I don't know how that helps me in the sprints, but it's nice to hear for sure. It's a little push for the next days."

Kittel has three possible stages to sprint for victory,  in the other days the team will work for overall leader Ilnur Zakarin.

"I'm definitely relaxed, but of course, I also make pressure for myself. I have goals, expectations for myself," Kittel added. "I take confidence out of my winter and out of the last weeks. That's the most important thing."

Mario Cipollini says he believes Marcel Kittel is still the most talented sprinter in the world.

Italian Cipollini, the man credited with mastering the sprint lead-out, said that compatriot Elia Viviani (Deceuninck- Quick-Step) has improved but that he believes Kittel (Katusha-Alpecin) is still the best.

The retired sprinting legend weighed in on the current WorldTour sprinting talent in an interview with Italian newspaper La Gazzetta Dello Sport.

When asked whether Viviani was the number one sprinter in the world, 51-year-old Cipollini said: “Elia has grown a lot and can count on an extraordinary team that will help him grow further.

“But the most talented sprinter is always Marcel Kittel, I think.”

>>> Simon Gerrans: ‘Some people don’t believe they’re seeing me riding around Richmond Park’

Cipollini added that he is not convinced by UAE Team Emirates star Fernando Gaviria because the Colombian is prone to crashing.

Viviani and Gaviria have opened their season in emphatic fashion, both with two wins to their name already.

After taking the opening stage of the Tour Down Under, Viviani went on to claim victory in the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race in Australia.

Gaviria opened with a win in his first race day of the season at the Vuelta a San Juan, following up with another victory on stage four.

Kittel won a sprint stage of the Challenge Majorca in February, after winning only two races throughout the previous season.

But the German's won five stages of the Tour de France in 2017, which put him 13th in the all-time list of stage winners on 14 victories.

>>> Team Sky in talks over sponsorship deal with Colombian oil firm, according to reports

Cipollini also decried the absence of an Italian WorldTour team, with talent like Viviani, Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) and Fabio Aru (UAE Team Emirates) riding for foreign teams.

When asked whether Italian team managers could emulate the success of Sir Dave Brailsford and Team Sky, he said: “Dave has the personality and the charisma to impose a project like that.

“We would have people up to par, for example [former Liquigas manager] Roberto Amadio.”

“I don’t want to sound pessimistic but the next days are very, very hard and nobody should take it for granted that Paris is already around the corner. Anyone can have a bad day and it can happen very quickly that you’re not on the race any more.”

Looking back, Marcel Kittel’s words on the rest day in Albertville ahead of the Alps look somewhat prophetic, a clear warning of what was to come two days later when he missed the time cut on stage 11 to La Rosière. While few sprinters made it through the Alps, the Marcel Kittel of 2018 was never the same as the five-stage winning machine of 2017.

Frustrated, angry, lost in despair at a race of failure — the only time Kittel made a splash in the French press was before stage eight when Katusha directeur sportif Dimitri Konyshev branded his star rider “egotistical”, complaining that the money spent had produced little more than a boy-man who played pointedly with his mobile phone during pre-stage meetings.

Behind the scenes in the Katusha-Alpecin camp, the scene was slightly different. Kittel is slumped in a ‘loungie’ at the rear of a hotel, happily having pictures taken with suitably wowed passers-by. He chats happily with a German couple delighted by his presence.

“I’m sure you have better things to do than pose for photographs with us,” they tell him. “It’s fine ” he replies. “Why are you here? Where are you from?”

At the start of the year, it looked like Kittel was set to repeat his domination of the 2017 Tour, where he took five stages for Quick-Step, in so doing becoming one of cycling’s most in-demand figures.

He looked likely to close in on Mark Cavendish’s tally of 30 sprint wins as he slid into the Katusha-Alpecin gear with 14 under his casquette. Instead he has faded.

So what has gone wrong for Kittel? Why the plummet from king of the fastmen to also-ran? The German, a quiet, measured, and respectful man in conversation, has his eyes well and truly open to the issues that affect him.

“I am not walking blind through the world,” he considers. “There has been a lot of pressure on me and I know that this year has been a bit of a struggle. It was pretty clear that the Tour de France was not going to be a walk in the park.”

Kittel is referring to a season in which the Katusha sprint train has looked more like a disparate collection of shunting wagons than an unstoppable locomotive.

Lack of time, and injuries to key riders, means Kittel has found himself amid a series of derails. He was keen, though, to emphasise that his lead-out team at the Tour de France was not the real problem.

“It’s too easy to blame the sprint train,” he insists. “It’s a combination of a lot of things. We tried to be up there from the beginning of the year but things went wrong for us. We lost Marco Haller to injury [Katusha’s Austrian lead-out man smashed his knee in training].”

Like strikers in a football team, an instinctive knowledge of your team-mates is vital. But Katusha has been left with a stranded frontman. To add insult to injury, his former team Quick-Step Floors have found a golden boot winner in Colombian Fernando Gaviria.

Compromised lead-out

Katusha sprint train member Rick Zabel elaborates: “It’s not been easy for sure. Marco’s missing and we lost Tony Martin [the German powerhouse crashed out on stage eight]. If you look at the stages Marcel won last year, a lot of the time he came from behind. For this Tour, we tried to follow that plan. He told us that at 500m to go he wanted to be in 10th position. On the first stage when he finished third, that worked OK. On the fourth stage it was a good job too. Of the other days in that first week, I wasn’t there one day, Tony wasn’t there another, I was involved in a crash another day.

“If you only have four guys and one or two are missing it’s very hard to bring someone through in the last kilometre.”

Sprints, however, are won not just by physical prowess, but in the mind. “It’s funny,” notes Zabel. “You might think a guy who has won five stages in one Tour wouldn’t need a confidence boost. But that’s also what makes Marcel human.”

Haller agrees. “Everybody relies on confidence to perform well,” he says, “and winning is the best thing to gain confidence. If you don’t win for a certain time, it gets tougher and tougher. It’s about keeping working and finding a solution that brings us back to our winning ways.”

Kittel himself states: “It’s fair to say that performance doesn’t always exist just with physical performance — there are also mental aspects.”

The Kittel/Haller combination is one in which both parties have confidence. The pair have a connection and at the Tour it is missing. “Pro cycling is a constantly moving business,” notes Haller, “but when you have a good connection with someone, it is a long-term thing.”

Add that to the fact that bad luck tends to stick in sport and you’ve got a recipe for low spirits and frustration. The kind that expressed itself through Konyshev’s outburst and an angry Kittel throwing his bike around and shouting on the bus.

“Most of the sprinters I know are like that,” says Zabel. “It would be odd if he walked on to the bus and said, ‘Great, I am happy to be 17th.’”

Kittel’s hunger would now also appear to be for the head of Konyshev, following the Russian’s stinging criticism. “It was very surprising to see that in the news when he has the chance to talk to me directly every day,” says Kittel.

“It certainly doesn’t make things easier.”

“It definitely didn’t help,” adds Zabel. “If there’s a problem, then the worst way to deal with it is like this. If you have a problem then you keep it internal.”

For Katusha this will be seen as another Tour that got away. Ilnur Zakarin fell short of the competition in the mountains, while Kittel spectacularly failed to fire. Indeed, fighting on two fronts in the new eight-man team format of the Tour might have simply been an ask too far.

Roadside at the Col de la Colombière, some fans felt the Kittel era might be over. “I am a big fan of Kittel,” says 18-year-old Dutchman Cedrec Louwers, “but we are now looking at a new generation — Gaviria, Dylan Groenewegen….”

It is appropriate that Kittel should wear the branding of Alpecin. Team Katusha could certainly do with a caffeine hit — shampoo or otherwise.

This article was originally published in Cycling Weekly magazine, July 26 issue

Mark Cavendish and Marcel Kittel have been eliminated from the 2018 Tour de France after failing to make the time cut on Wednesday's tough mountain stage between Albertville and La Rosière.

Cavendish was dropped on the very first climb of the day, the Montée de Bisanne, and was forced to climb the Col du Pré alone nearly half an hour behind the front of the race after team-mates Mark Renshaw and Jay Robert Thomson left him in order to try and make the time cut themselves.

The two sprinters only narrowly avoided elimination on stage 10 of the race as he came home in a small group of riders just 28 seconds inside the time limit.

>>> Mark Cavendish 'bitterly disapponted' after missing time cut and being eliminated from Tour de France

However there was going to be no repeat of that on Wednesday's stage, and with the time cut set at 31-27 after the finish of stage winner Geraint Thomas, Kittel crossed the line 42-51 in arrears while Cavendish finished more than an hour behind Thomas.

There was also for Mark Renshaw, who had left Cavendish earlier in the day, also missing the cut. There was also a dramatic finish for Katusha-Alpecin's Rick Zabel, who sprinted across the line only to miss the time cut by four seconds before commissaires took mercy on the German and allowed him to stay in the race.

Watch: Tour de France stage 11 highlights

This is the fifth time that Cavendish has failed to finish the Tour de France. In his debut Tour in 2007 he made it as far as the end of the first week before abandoning on stage seven, which coincidentally also climbed the Cormet de Roselend.

He also pulled out of the 2016 Tour to prepare for the Olympic games, while his other two abandons were as a result of crashes, coming in 2014 when he crashed on British roads at the end of stage one in Harrogate, and in 2017 when he was brought down in a coming together with Peter Sagan at the end of stage four in Vittel, an incident that saw Sagan disqualified from the race.

Mark Cavendish and fellow sprinters Marcel Kittel and Dylan Groenewegen scraped through the first Tour de France mountain stage by the skin of their teeth as they finished just 28 seconds inside the time limit.

>>> Mark Cavendish and Marcel Kittel eliminated from 2018 Tour de France after failing to make time cut on stage 11

With stage winner Julian Alaphilippe completing the 158.5km stage between Annecy and Le Grand-Bornand in a time of 4-25-27 at an average speed of 35.8kmh, the time limit for the stage was set at 13 per cent of Alaphilippe's time, meaning that riders had to finish in less than 34-30 in arrears to avoid being eliminated from the race.

For the majority of the riders this was not a problem, with two large groups coming in at 25-03 and 27-30 to comfortably make the time cut. However there was a nervous wait for some at the finish line as the clock ticked towards the time limit of 4-59-57 with no sign of three of the biggest sprinters in the race.

>>> Greg Van Avermaet: 'It's an honour to ride int eh yellow jersey, that's why I tried to defend it'

But shortly before 18:35 local time, the team managers of Dimension Data, Katusha-Alpecin, and LottoNL-Jumbo were able to breathe a collective sigh of relief as a group of 11 riders containing Cavendish, Kittel, and Groenewegen alongside lead-out men Rick Zabel, Mark Renshaw, and Timo Roosen crossed the line in a time of 4-59-29, just 28 seconds inside the time limit.

The Tour's regulations allow for the commissaires to permit "particularly unlucky" riders who finish outside the time limit to continue in the race, with there also being provision for riders to continue in the race if an especially large number finish outside the time limit.

Watch: Tour de France stage 10 highlights

However this would have unlikely been applied to the 11 riders that scraped through Tuesday's stage as they did not suffer any particular bad luck and were not in a large group.

Cavendish and co. were dropped on the first major climb of the stage, the first category Col de la Croix-Fry, and will face another race against the time cut on Wednesday's stage which starts climbing the hors-categorie Montée de Bisanne almost immediately after the flag drops.

>>> Rigoberto Uran not giving up on Tour GC as ROubaix injuries cost him time in the Alps

Tour organisers estimate that the stage winner will cross the four major climbs and arrive in the finish in La Rosière in a time of roughly 3-17, meaning the gruppetto will have to finish around 27 minutes behind the winner.

However if the winner's time is slower, then the gruppetto will have to finish a few minutes less behind the winner, while they will be given a little more leeway if it is a fast day of racing.

Marcel Kittel says his future with Katusha-Alpecin is not in question, despite reigniting his feud with sports director Dimitri Konyshev on Twitter.

Kittel, who has yet to win a stage at this year’s Tour de France, after securing five in 2017, was publicly panned in L’Equipe by Konyshev, who claimed the sprinter was disrespectful towards him at a team meeting and was “only interested in himself."

Kittel hadn’t Tweeted since stage one, when he finished a creditable third, but after the ninth stage to Roubaix he returned to social media to state: “How fitting that my bumpy start in @letourdefrance finishes with a cobblestone stage to Roubaix... Thanks to everyone for your support in these first 9 days! It feels great to have you behind me especially in times when I hear critics from people where I wouldn't expect it...”

Asked if he was referring directly to Konyshev, Kittel told Cycling Weekly: “I think it’s fair to say that was a very surprising criticism.

“It was very surprising to see that in the news if he has the chance to talk to me directly every day. That’s something that I totally don’t understand. It certainly doesn’t make things easier.”

At the team hotel in Albertville prior to tackling the Alps, Kittel said he hoped the situation could be resolved.

“I’m not putting a big question mark over my future with Katusha,” reflected the sprinter. “This incident now we try to handle it internally. That’s what I wanted and it’s what the team management wanted. We spoke about it, but those things can’t be done in one talk after a stage.

“For now, for here, for the Tour, this race is too important to let things get out of hand. I’m ready to give my best for the team over the next days. Everyone is focussed on our goals and we want to put that first.”

Stage 18 into Pau and the final stage into Paris offer Kittel and Katusha two more chances of sprint redemption in the Tour.

“I don’t want to sound negative or pessimistic but the next days are very, very hard and nobody should take it for granted that Paris is already around the corner,” said the German.

“Anyone can have a bad day and in such a tough Tour, one of the hardest Tours de France in a long time, then it can happen very quickly that you’re not on the race anymore. You have to stay focused and concentrate.”

Marcel Kittel is hoping for a change in fortune over the rest of the Tour de France after going winless over the first seven stages of the race so far.

The German sprinter was also slammed by Katusha-Alpecin sports director in Saturday’s edition of L’Equipe, claiming he was only interested in himself and was playing on his phone during the team briefing before the stage three team time trial in Cholet.

Kittel spoke to Eurosport ahead of the stage eight start in Dreux: “I think today is the best stage for a pure sprinter, its flat and if you look at the profile yesterday it had 2,500m of climbing, so was not really the definition of a very flat stage, I guess it’s a bit easier today but we have to be concentrated so things like letting the breakaway that is too big go.”

>>> Can anyone stop Fernando Gaviria in the upcoming Tour de France sprint finishes?

Yesterday’s stage was the longest of the Tour de France at 231 kilometres, in which Kittel rolled in in 70th place at the back of the sprinters pack as team mate Rik Zabel took up the team sprinters role.

Watch: Tour de France stage seven highlights

“We made a change, and I think he tried his best, I personally wasn’t feeling great and it wasn’t my day," Kittel said.

"I just tried to get over it and move on and focus on today as it is a goal for me and a goal for the team. I really want to go for it and I think especially after yesterday it is important to find the balance between of going for it and staying relaxed that’s the goal for today.”

>>> Dylan Groenewegen launches well-timed sprint to beat Fernando Gaviria on Tour de France 2018 stage seven

The Katusha-Alpecin rider has had issues with his sprint train all season since his move from Quick-Step Floors, but believes it will come together on today's stage or on flatter stages later on in the race.

“I think yesterday we did a good job, we were there when we had to move up but I wasn’t there so I can’t really blame anyone but myself so I take that on my account and try to do better today. We had a good meeting, talked to the guys and we have a good plan so we’ll see what happens.”

Imagine hurtling down a road in excess of 60km/h with a blinkered view of a guy’s back, whose instincts you barely know.

There’s no review mirror, no side mirrors, just his back, fast twitch turns, vitriol, the roar of fans somewhere in the background and your make or literally brake decision whether to trust him.

That’s the scenario 14-time Tour de France stage winner Marcel Kittel has faced this year at new team Katusha-Alpecin.

The mechanisations of forming a lead-out around the German heavyweight have been more complex than putting ducks in a row, and reliant mostly on what science can’t teach – faith.

“It’s everything,” says Kittel. “I’m more or less blind sitting in the wheel and just following my team-mates. Then you need to really be able to trust.”

It’s not an overnight process, as Kittel knows from prior experience and racing with still relatively unfamiliar team-mates at the Tour of California this week.

The 30-year-old headlines a blockbuster sprint field that has so far had one of a total three opportunities to flex its muscle.

Kittel in the opening stage at Long Beach finished fourth in the bunch sprint behind winner Fernando Gaviria, the Colombian who succeeded him at Quick-Step Floors this season.

“[Stage one] is a pretty good example. [It] was the third final that I ever did with Rick Zabel in front of me. We’ve had of course also races in the Middle East but that was always a different order. It’s something that needs some races to get used to,” Kittel continues.

“When I didn’t follow Rick immediately, I felt really shit about it afterwards because he did a perfect job. But that’s simply the trust you need to build up for everyone and each other.”

Kittel marked a slow start to the season in the Middle East as he and Katusha-Alpecin commenced the 'try until you get it right' equation.

The squad recruited heavily through the transfer period as well, meaning the process hasn’t been as simple as putting Kittel at the end of an already drilled formation.

His pedigree and the constant expectation to perform can also compound things.

“I have my own opinion about which line I want to follow in a race. Then sometimes suddenly you have two or three opinions because your lead-out guys in front of you, they have a different view on how things are happening just by sitting four metres in front of you. That can make a difference sometimes, but that’s what I mean, you need to have trust for each other,” he says.

Kittel missed the mark on stage one of this tour but isn’t alarmed now, or looking forward to the Tour de France, which he was forced to abandon wearing the green jersey last season.

“It’s always about your general condition and I think I improved that last year a lot, I was in really good shape and this is my goal for this year. With that comes every rider’s natural speed, then you can show it,” he says.

The five-time Scheldeprijs champion rebounded from a slow start to claim two stage victories at Tirreno-Adriatico in March. A puncture scuppered a Scheldeprijs title defence in April, while DNFs at a career second appearance at Paris-Roubaix, and at the following Eschborn-Frankfurt, here seem of no consequence.

“I was actually quite happy with my race [on stage one] because after having a break after Roubaix, and being sick with antibiotics a few days again, I was only doing light training before Frankfurt, and then the altitude training,” Kittel says.

“I think I was right up there in the sprint. I can’t complain about it. I did a mistake, I admit that, but the legs and the speed were there. That’s promising for the next days.”

Marcel Kittel (Katusha-Alpecin) steered clear of a major crash in the final 10km of stage six of Tirreno-Adriatico to take his second stage victory of the race ahead of Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Maximiliano Richeze (Quick-Step Floors).

What looked like a straight-forward final 10km towards a bunch sprint was shaken up when a momentary lapse of concentration saw Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step Floors) clip the back wheel of lead-out man Richeze to crash hard with 7.8km to go.

Gaviria's fall set off a chain reaction which brought down a number of other riders and split the bunch in two, with only 60 or so riders left at the front of the race.

Sagan had been immediately behind Gaviria when he crashed, but somehow managed to avoid the Colombian, only being slowed down before having to work hard to regain contact with the front group and take a few risks to move back up to the front.

However this effort may have cost Sagan in the final sprint, and a fresh-legged Kittel came out of the wheel of Richeze, now free of his lead-out duties and sprinting for himself, Sagan was unable to come around the outside meaning that it was Kittel who took his second win of the week.

Meanwhile race leader Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky) also managed to avoid the crash, meaning that he will take a three-second lead over BMC Racing's Damiano Caruso into the final time trial on Tuesday.

How it happened

The sixth stage of Tirreno-Adriatico looked set to be the second bunch sprint of the race, and saw four riders escape in the opening kilometres. In the move were Marcus Burghardt (Bora-Hansgrohe), Krists Neilands (Israel Cycling Academy), Jacopo Mosca (Wilier-Selle Italia), and Artem Nych (Gazprom-Rusvelo) who enjoyed a maximum lead of around three-and-a-half minutes.

Those four riders stayed together until around midway through the stage, when Burghardt upped the pace on the small climb to Ostra and set about ticking off some of the remaining 70km solo.

LottoNL-Jumbo and Quick-Step Floors were responsible for much of the chasing as they worked for Danny Van Poppel and Fernando Gaviria, steadily bringing the gap down to catch Burghardt with 18km to go, the only other real action being the work of the BMC duo of Patrick Bevin and Greg Van Avermaet to leap out of the pack to deny Kwiatkowski bonus seconds at the intermediate sprint on the first crossing of the finish line.

Philippe Gilbert (Quick-Step Floors) led the peloton for nearly 10km through the finishing circuit, but at the back of the race there was more bad luck for Geraint Thomas, who followed up on his jammed chain from stage four with a puncture with 11km remaining.

Thomas was on his way back to the peloton, but the bad luck transferred to Gaviria who touched the wheel of lead-out man Max Richeze. That crash brought down a large number of riders and leaving a group of around 50 riders left at the front with just six kilometres remaining.

Although not brought down - having somehow stayed upright despite being on Gaviria's wheel when he crashed - Peter Sagan was one of those caught up in the crash and had to work hard to regain contact and start to make his way back up to the front.

With Gaviria down, it was up to Katusha-Alpecin to control the bunch for Kittel, with Alex Dowsett putting in a big turn before handing over to Trek-Segafredo's Ryan Mullen to lead under the flamme rouge.

However even without Gaviria, Quick-Step Floors were intent on challenging for the victory, with Bob Jungels and then Zdenek Stybar trying to set up Richeze.

The Argentian was in a perfect position as he launched his sprint with 250m to go, but was out-gunned by Kittel who held off the charge of Sagan to take his second victory of the week.

The 2018 edition of Tirreno-Adriatico concludes on Tuesday with a 10.05km time trial starting and finishing in San Benedetto del Tronto.

Results

Tirreno-Adriatico 2018, stage six: Numana to Fano, 153km

1. Marcel Kittel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin, in 3-49-54

2. Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe

3. Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Quick-Step Floors

4. Sacha Modolo (Ita) EF Education First-Drapac

5. Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Quick-Step Floors

6. Jens Debusschere (Bel) Lotto Soudal

7. Marco Canola (Ita) Nippo-Vini Fantini

8. Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates

9. Eduard Grosu (Rom) Nippo Vini Fantini

10. Rick Zabel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin, all at same time

General classification after stage six

1. Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky, in 25-21-22 25:21:22

2. Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing, at 3 secs

3. Mikel Landa (Esp) Movistar, at 23 secs

4. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky, at 29 secs

5. Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education First-Drapac, at 34 secs

6. Adam Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott, at 36 secs

7. Davide Formolo (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 37 secs

8. Tiesj Benoot (Bel) Lotto Soudal, at 39 secs

9. George Bennett (NZl) LottoNL-Jumbo, at 41 secs

10. Jaime Roson (Esp) Movistar, at 47 secs

Marcel Kittel (Katusha-Alpecin) took his first victory of the 2018 season, claiming the bunch sprint victory on stage two of Tirreno-Adriatico in Italy on Thursday.

A late crash had disrupted the flow of the peloton going into the finale of the flat stage from Camaiore to Follonica, but Kittel's Katusha-Alpecin team-mates managed to reassemble a compact lead-out for the German, who duly finished off their effort.

World champion Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) placed second in the chaotic sprint, with Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek-Segafredo) in third.

Patrick Bevin's fifth place on the stage meant that he took over from BMC Racing team-mate Damiano Caruso at the top of the general classification. Caruso slips to second behind the New Zealander, with fellow BMC rider Greg Van Avermaet in third. BMC's dominance at the top of the GC came after the opening day's team time trial victory.

Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) was one of those who was caught up in the crash with seven kilometres to go, and dropped out of the top 10 overall. Team Sky's Geraint Thomas and Chris Froome both move up overall, into seventh and ninth overall.

How it happened

The day's escape group of Nicola Bagioli (Nippo-Vini Fantini), Alexander Foliforov (Gazprom-Rusvelo), Jacopo Mosca (Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia) and Guy Sagiv (Israel Cycling Academy) formed on the early climb of Montemagno.

The quartet quickly opened up a decent gap over the BMC-controlled peloton, stretching it out to over five minutes after 20 kilometres.

Bagnoli appeared to be only interested in the mountain points on offer on the climb, and sat up 40km into the stage after cresting the climb first to leave just three out front.

The escape continued to work well together, and their advantage had been pushed out to over seven minutes inside 100km to go.

However, that was about to change as Mitchelton-Scott put Luke Durbridge on the front of the bunch. The Australian upped the pace considerably, and the gap started to reduce. He took several turns on the front over the rest of the stage and each time chipped more time away from the break.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AntnS1WXA4

Inside the final 50km, the gap was down to two minutes.

BMC took more of a back seat, allowing Mitchelton-Scott to continue working on the front with members of Quick-Step Floors, Trek-Segafredo and Katusha – all working for their sprinters.

The break's day out came to an end with 12km to go, which signalled a change in the composure of the bunch as riders started jostling for position on narrow roads with plenty of roundabouts, street furniture and corners.

A big crash took down a swathe of the peloton with 7km to go, as riders were spread all across the road.

The crash had disrupted some of the sprinters teams, and there was a lot of jostling and some elbows touching as lead-out trains tried to reassemble into the final 5km.

At one point it looked as though Katusha-Alpecin had formed two lead-outs, one on each side of the peloton as they tried to find Kittel. But find him they did, and the German looked to be back on top form as he opened up his sprint early after a final effort from team-mate Rick Zabel, and smoothly opened up a gap over his rivals.

>>> Tirreno-Adriatico 2018: Latest news, reports and race info

Tirreno-Adriatico 2018 continues on Friday with stage three, from Follonica to Trevi and covering 234 kilometres. It promises to be a tough stage: not only the longest of the race, but peppered with climbs including the final, punchy ascent to the finish.

Results

Tirreno-Adriatico 2018, stage two: Camaiore to Follonica, 167km

1. Marcel Kittel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin

2. Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe

3. Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek-Segafredo

4. Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky

5. Patrick Bevin (NZl) BMC Racing

6. Jakub Mareczko (Ita) Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia

7. Fernando Gaviria (Col) Quick-Step Floors

8. Danny van Poppel (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo

9. Eduard Micheal Grosu (Ven) Nippo Vini Fantini

10. Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates, all at same time

General classification after stage two

1. Patrick Bevin (NZl) BMC Racing, in 4-34-43

2. Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing, at same time

3. Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing, at same time

4. Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing, at same time

5. Daryl Impey (RSA) Mitchelton-Scott, at 4 secs

6. Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky, at 9 secs

7. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky, at 9 secs

8. Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Team Sky, at 9 secs

9. Chris Froome (GBr) Team Sky, at 9 secs

10. Jonathan Castroviejo (Spa) Team Sky, at 9 secs

Marcel Kittel and Katusha-Alpecin are learning from their early-season sprint mistakes to try and win their first race since joining forces for 2018.

The German sprinter, victor of 14 Tour de France stages, left Quick-Step over the winter to lead Katusha's sprint team. Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data), André Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) and others have already won, but Kittel is still looking for his first after missing out in the Dubai Tour at the beginning of February.

>>> How to train like a sprinter: essential tips to improve your top-end speed

He and Katusha-Alpecin have a chance to correct their "mistakes" in the five-day Abu Dhabi Tour, which started on Wednesday.

"As a team we showed a really good team spirit [in the Dubai Tour]," Kittel said.

"We saw where our mistakes were and what we have do better in the future and that's what we'll work on now, in this race and in the coming weeks.

"We were there but we couldn't get that victory so that's also a goal for Abu Dhabi now, to do better and keep developing."

Kittel's best day in his new red colours saw him sprint to third behind Cavendish and Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis).

With 14 stage wins and twice wearer of the yellow jersey in the Tour de France, no one is giving up hope on the 29-year-old.

"The most important point for us was to get a structure into our sprint and how we work together. That red line has to establish and has to be more strong. We have to be aware of what our plan is and what we want to do as a group. That was a very positive development in the end [from Dubai] and that's something that also takes time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjzSgD5JC-c

"I'm really not in a rush. The team is not in a rush to push anything. If we were luckier on stage one and I didn't have a mechanical, then we would be talking totally differently about this race."

Some of the world's top sprinters arrived for the Abu Dhabi Tour, the first WorldTour race in the Middle East. The stars on the list include Cavendish (who quickly abandoned after a crash on stage one), Greipel, Elia Viviani (Quick-Step Floors), Caleb Ewan (Mitchelton-Scott), Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates) and Daniel McLay (EF Education First-Drapac).

They will have three chances through the race, which also includes a time trial and on the penultimate day, and a summit finish on Sunday.

Katusha made plans last week after the Dubai Tour to be ready here in the Emirates's second big tour, where their classification star Ilnur Zakarin also races. Kittel will rely on Rick Zabel, Marco Haller and Alex Dowsett to deliver him in the three sprints.

"We had a meeting to talk about [the Dubai Tour] and the last week," Kittel continued.

"That's always important because you come out of the event with a good feeling after looking at what was good, what was bad and what you want to do better.

"That way, you have a plan and you can go into the next race and just be confident again. And for us, that's the most important thing."

Marcel Kittel was welcomed on stage at Katusha-Alpecin's 2018 team presentation in Mallorca, Spain, on Saturday wearing the squad's new-look colours.

The German sprinter joins the Swiss-registered team after two years at Quick-Step Floors. Naturally, Kittel will be head up the team's aspirations for sprint stage wins at the Tour de France in 2018 and the squad will assemble a lead-out train to guide him into position.

However, Kittel said it was too early to set out firm targets for next season.

“I won five stages at the Tour [in 2017] that I am very proud of and feel highly motivated to be at the top again," said Kittel. "It really satisfies me.

>>> Watch: Chris Froome and Marcel Kittel arm wrestle – who will win? (video)

"I was so happy to be able to come back to a level I had seen in the past. My next big target will be getting used to my new teammates and see how we work together – that’s not even thinking about winning yet.

"Having a great lead out team on this international Team Katusha-Alpecin is a good motivator for me. I think this is a good fit and I feel we can achieve something together. I feel very comfortable here.”

Kittel appeared in Katusha-Alpecin's striking new blue-and-red jersey during the presentation and stood alongside his old friend Tony Martin and new British team-mate Alex Dowsett, who joins the team from Movistar.

"It’s very nice to have Marcel in the team," said Martin. "He’s my good friend and he gives me so much motivation for my own riding. He’s also super nice and a good person. I feel more confident now in the team and very comfortable. It’s not my first year anymore – now the pressure is on him."

>>> Alex Dowsett relishing chance of Marcel Kittel lead-out role with Katusha in 2018

The squad is not putting all the pressure on Kittel at the 2018 Tour, as Russian Ilnur Zakarin will take part in the race for the first time in his career. Zakarin impressed in both the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España in 2017, placing fifth and third respectively – the latter being his first Grand Tour podium spot.

“I have goals for the Tour even though it is a race that will be new for me," said Zakarin. "I hope to see myself make the top five. I had some doubts the middle week of the Vuelta, but I kept getting stronger and realized how good I was feeling.

"It is good to know this happens in the big tours and I will come with more experience to my next three-week race. My condition was very good at the end."

Dowsett has said that he is looking forward to working with Kittel, as well as a chance to ride in time trials and a possible second tilt at the Hour Record.

"Above anything I was just excited to work with a sprinter again, in any capacity," Dowsett told Cycling Weekly in September.

"I think that I was quite consistent when I was in that role with Sky and performed well when it came to the lead-out and looking after a sprinter."

Dowsett continued: "I’ve got seven years to do the Hour Record but it’s a shame it didn’t happen this year. I know the numbers are there and I can do it, I just need three months’ warning and an hour slot in Manchester.”

Le duel le plus inattendu : @chrisfroome vs @marcelkittel / The most (un)-expected fight: @chrisfroome vs @marcelkittel 💪#ShanghaiCriterium pic.twitter.com/S9HZC57AYz

— Le Tour de France (@LeTour) October 28, 2017

It's not often that Chris Froome and Marcel Kittel go head-to-head in a show of strength. While British rider Froome concentrates on Grand Tour overall classifications, German powerhouse Kittel focuses on bunch sprints.

However, in an unlikely showdown, Froome (Team Sky) and Kittel (Quick-Step Floors) somehow found themselves facing each other from opposite sides of a table in China for a good, old-fashioned arm wrestle. And there could only be one winner.

The contest starts off with a seeming deadlock, with Froome putting in a cheeky dig to try and topple his stockier rival.

It transpires that Kittel is just wearing down Froome, though, and eventually overcomes the 2017 Tour de France and Vuelta a España winner to take the win.

>>> Giro still a possibility for Chris Froome as he prepares for 2018 season

Both riders appear to have put in maximum effort in the table-top duel, ending the contest with red faces.

Kittel simply said on Twitter: "the difference between a climber and a sprinter", while Froome said that he "let Marcel Kittel have it... didn’t want to embarrass him."

Will we see more rider-versus-rider arm-wrestle battles in future? We hope so.

Froome and Kittel were in China for the Shanghai criterium, put on by Tour de France organiser ASO on Sunday. Froome made up for the disappointment of losing out to Kittel by winning the race ahead of Colombian Rigoberto Uran (Cannondale-Drapac), with Frenchman Warren Barguil (Team Sunweb) in third.

Spaniard Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) finished fourth in the race that signals the end of his racing career.

Marcel Kittel will leave Quick-Step Floors at the end of the 2017 season, joining Katusha-Alpecin on a two-year deal.

The German sprinter will join Katusha after two years at Quick-Step, moving to the German team as a replacement for Alexander Kristoff, who will be riding for UAE Team Emirates in 2018.

Speaking about the move, Kittel said that he was looking forward to joining a team which had shown that it was working well in sprint finishes.

>>> Cycling transfers 2018: All the ins and outs from the WorldTour

"I find all the requirements in the team that I need to be strong in the sprint finals," said the German sprinter. "I saw that the sprint train is functioning very well.

"Team Katusha-Alpecin has undergone a major change in recent years. I've been watching these changes for a long time and I think it's good. That is why I am looking forward to being part of the team and share the direction they are headed."

Watch: Marcel Kittel's toughest day

Katusha general manager José Azevedo said that Kittel, winner of five stages at the 2017 Tour de France, would be given the team's full support as he tried to rack up more Grand Tour wins.

"We are very happy to have Marcel in the team," said Azevedo. "We can say that he is at the moment the best sprinter in the world. He showed this quite impressively in the Tour de France where he won five stages.

"He will be one of our most important riders and can look forward to strong team support. We will try to support him in the best possible way to ensure that he can continue his successful results."

>>> Seven things to look out for at the Vuelta a España 2017

Kittel is only the second rider, after Matteo Trentin, to announce that he is leaving Quick-Step Floors at the end of 2017. With the Belgian outfit's future sponsorship apparently still to be secured, the team had expected to lose a number of major riders.

However the team has announced that a number of major riders such as Philippe Gilbert, Niki Terpstra, Julian Alaphilippe, and Bob Jungels have all renewed their contracts, with Dan Martin the only other big name expected to depart.

Primoz Roglic wins in style

Taking his maiden Tour de France stage win, Slovenian rider Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) did it in style with a well timed attack that saw him descend from the peak of the Galibier to victory alone.

As well as hunting for the last KOM points of the day, Roglic attacked to take the maximum points but was able to find himself alone and with 1-30 to play with over 27km to the finish.

With the sweeping bends laid out in front of him, Roglic held every line perfectly with his lead never dipping below 1-15.

Never looking in doubt, the former ski jumper arrived onto the flat before the flamme rouge and time trialled himself to Tour de France glory.

Roglic certainly opened a few eyes with a stage win with a fine display of climbing, adding a second Grand Tour stage win to the victory he took in the Giro d'Italia in 2016.

Marcel Kittel breaks

Marcel Kittel followed in the footsteps of Tom Boonen and Alessandro Petacchi and withdrew from the Tour with the green jersey on his back after crashing in the first 20km of the race.

The German sprinter was up against it after he'd struggled for the past couple of days on the categorised climbs.

Green jersey rival, Michael Matthews, was the opposing image, showing determination to fight back against Kittel. His determination paid off having successfully reduced the points competition to just nine points before the German abandoned.

Kittel had planned to be up the road so he could at least contend with Matthews but the early crash caused the Quick-Step rider to rethink his place. After riding for nearly half the stage Kittel conceded defeat to Matthews and called it a race.

Watch: Tour de France 2017 stage 17 highlights

Fabio Aru falters as Rigoberto Uran edges into second

On a day when he would've wanted to be in the thick of things, Fabio Aru took a step back in his fight for the yellow jersey.

The Italian champion had been in the fight for most of the day but as the ride edged closer to the summit of the Galibier, Aru started to suffer.

Repeated attacks from Dan Martin saw Aru falter and drop off before regaining contact. Fighting to get back on time and time again, there was a possibility that Aru could potentially hold on but as the group prepared to climb over the top, he was left behind.

Teaming up with the man who had attacked him on the previous climb, and Alberto Contador, Aru struggled in vain as he fought to reel in the rest of the GC group.

Down the road Chris Froome, Romain Bardet and Rigoberto Uran drove the pace to try and gain on Primoz Roglic. Despite failing in that endeavour, Uran powered through to take six bonus seconds that saw him move into second place while Froome took four to consolidate his lead.

Alberto Contador gave it one last roll of the dice

In true Alberto Contador fashion, the Spaniard gave it his all as he threw his hat into the ring for the day's glory.

122km out Contador attacked trying to bridge a group that was nearly six minutes ahead.

Unperturbed, the Trek-Segafredo rider gave it his all and in the process dropped Nairo Quintana (Movistar) leaving just himself to power up the Croix de Fer.

El Pistolero's confidence was repaid as he found himself in the front group with the race heading up the Col du Télégraph and onwards to the Col du Galibier.

The day's eventual winner had other ideas though as Roglic broke from the group. Contador tried to follow and did an incredible job but by the peak he was caught by a rapid yellow jersey group and found himself fighting to get back on.

In what could be his last Tour de France, Contador showed that he's still prepared to lose it all in order to win it.

Warren Barguil can't relax just yet

Having hoped to wrap up the polka dot jersey competition today, Warren Barguil seemed a shoe in for the points on offer.

However, the Tour de France had other ideas with a crash 20km into the day's racing.

Barguil had avoided being seriously hurt but the hold up meant that he missed out on the day's early break for points.

With De Gendt and Roglic both breathing down his neck it was important for the Frenchman to get back on.

Thankfully, with Matthews up the road and a late fight back to take points on the Galibier, Barguil could focus on finishing off the competition on stage 18.

Roglic wanted to spoil the fun though by taking maximum points on the day's final climb and with only 49 points now separating the two, the 58 points on offer in the final mountain stage on Thursday will be more closely fought than Barguil would've liked.

Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors) has abandoned the Tour de France 2017 on stage 17.

The German, who has won five stages in this year's Tour, crashed early on in Wednesday's stage before the first climb of the Col d'Ornon, damaging his right shoulder.

Kittel led the green jersey standings going into stage 17, with a close fought battle ensuing over the points competition with Australian Michael Matthews (Sunweb), with the fight for the classification set to come down to the final two sprint stages on Friday and Sunday.

The green will now pass to Matthews, who was just nine points behind Kittel after taking the intermediate points on stage 17, with second place André Greipel still way back in second place.

29-year-old Kittel was brought down in a multi-ride pile-up with 164km to go in the 183km stage, which passes four categorised climbs including the Col de la Croix de Fer, the Col du Télégraph and the Col du Galibier en route to the finish in Serre-Chevalier.

British champion Steve Cummings (Dimension Data) was also brought down in the crash, as he veered into a field to avoid hitting riders in front of him.

Kittel was the second high profile rider to abandon the Tour on the 17th stage, with Thibaut Pinot throwing in the towel on the Croix de Fer and leaving his FDJ team with just three riders left in the race.

Quick-Step will now rally round Dan Martin after the loss of Kittel, who is looking to regain time on GC after slipping and losing 51 seconds in the crosswinds on stage 16.

Marcel Kittel could be in trouble after a big crash early on in Stage 17! He's a long way back - Watch on @ITV4 pic.twitter.com/TCaAl0ybRh

— ITV Cycling (@itvcycling) July 19, 2017

Marcel Kittel's position in the green jersey of points classification leader suffered a setback at the start of stage 17 of the 2017 Tour de France after the German was involved in a crash.

Kittel was one of a number of riders felled in the incident at the back of the peloton after just 20km, which also took down British rider Steve Cummings (Dimension Data) and mountains classification leader Warren Barguil (Team Sunweb).

Kittel suffered scuff and cuts to his right shoulder in the fall, and was left to make his own way back up to the peloton after the incident. Immediately after the crash, his green jersey rival and the previous day's stage winner Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb) was part of a large 30+ rider escape group.

Television pictures showed that Cummings suffered a rip across the back of his shorts, revealed quite a bit of his lower physique. He later had the rip tidied up with some safety pins.

All riders remounted and got back into the race.

The incident served to shake up the peloton early in the high mountains stage which features four classified climbs, including the category one Col du Télégraphe, and hors categorie Col de la Croix de Fer and Col du Galibier.

A battle between the general classification contenders is expected, as well as a fight for both green jersey points and mountains points.

Update: Kittel subsequently abandoned the race at the top of the Col de la Croix de Fer.

Michael Matthews (Sunweb), winner of the 16th stage of the Tour de France in Romans-sur-Isère, promises a green jersey fight all the way to Paris with current leader Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors).

Matthews won the windy stage on Tuesday and before the rest day, stage 14. He trails the green jersey leader by 29 points, 344 to Kittel's 373.

>>> Five talking points from stage 16 of the Tour de France

"It's been one guy [Peter Sagan] dominating for the last years," Matthews said, "so to see a fight to Paris for the green jersey will be special."

Sagan won the points competition the last five years in a row, from 2012 to 2016. The jury made the controversial move to disqualify him after a stage four incident with Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data), who had to abandon with a fractured shoulder blade.

Kittel appeared to be in control with Sagan and then Arnaud Démare (FDJ) leaving the race. He won five stages and moved into a strong lead. Even after his fifth, he warned that the green jersey was not a done deal.

"Unfortunately, the Tour de France is three weeks long and not only two," Kittel said.

"I was probably right [after my fifth win] to say it'd be settled on the Champs-Élysées."

Two chances remain for sprint finishes, one in Marseille and one in Paris. German Kittel is the fastest sprinter of the two, but Australian Matthews the more versatile. He escaped the other day to pick up points and on stage 16, tried to do the same.

Once he realised Kittel was dropped, he ordered his Sunweb team to pull hard to possibly force him to be time cut or to at least ensure he would be without his top rival at the finish.

"When Kittel was dropped, I went to the front, the guys just smiled and were ready to work for me," Matthews said.

"We kept up the pressure and kept pulling full, so if he's out of the race, it's better for me. I took the intermediate and we got the final points as well. I got 50 points today

"It was really an amazing day, we had a great plan in the bus, but this worked out 10 times better than planned."

At one point, the data showed that Sunweb worked 61.1 per cent at the front. The next best team, Dimension Data for Edvald Boasson Hagen, worked 13.5 per cent.

Kittel can only defend his green jersey by winning and having his team make sure Matthews fails to win the intermediate sprints in the coming two mountain days.

"The climb at the start today was something that suited him better, so what can I do about it? I won't think about the lost points now," Kittel added.

"I can't say I'm happy about losing all the points today, but there's nothing to do. We also tried to keep Dan Martin in contention today [he slipped from fifth to seventh], but it wasn't our day. We have to move on and think about out next chances."

Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step) won his fifth stage of the 2017 Tour de France on stage 11's run-in to Pau, beating Dylan Groenewegen (LottoNL-Jumbo) and Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) to the line after a late surge.

Boasson Hagen was the first man to unleash his sprint in earnest with around 150m to go, with Kittel making his move in the middle of the road to the left of Boasson Hagen shortly after and once again looked like he was simply coasting to victory.

>>> Riders taking ‘big risks’ make Tour de France descents dangerous, says event director

Groenewegen jumped on Kittel's wheel and was able to follow the German in for second place. Michael Matthews (Sunweb) took fourth and some green jersey points, though Kittel was able to extend his lead in that jersey.

With his fifth win, Kittel will be eyeing emulating Mark Cavendish's haul of six stages in the 2009 Tour, with three possible sprint stages still to come at the 2017 Tour.

It wasn't completely straightforward for Kittel and his Quick-Step team however, as they were made to work hard by Bora-Hansgrohe's Maciej Bodnar, who attacked solo from the day's original breakaway and held out until 250m to go before being caught by the sprinters.

Bodnar was joined by Marco Marcato (UAE Team Emirates) and Frederik Backaert (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) in the day's break, which went from the flag drop.

They established a maximum gap of around four minutes, but spent much of the day at 2-30 with the peloton keeping them within their grasp.

On a relatively uneventful day at the Tour, a crash at the feedzone with just over 90km to go saw one of Fabio Aru's key Astana helpers, Dario Cataldo, fall and abandon the race with his injuries.

There was another small crash on the only categorised climb of the day with around 50km to go, as Arthur Vichot (FDJ) and Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida) took a small tumble. That caused a brief split in the peloton but everything was back together shortly after the climb.

Bodnar then decided to have a go solo with around 25km remaining with a 40 second gap to the bunch, while his former breakaway companions slipped backwards.

Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) then had a crash at 22km to go with team-mate Michael Gogl, but looked uninjured as he was paced back to the bunch by Jarlinson Pantano.

Bodnar valiantly held out for almost the entire race, but was eventually caught as he tired and Kittel was able to use his immense sprinting power to claim a fifth stage victory.

Chris Froome (Team Sky) safely navigated the 203.5km route and retains the overall lead heading into the Tour's second summit finish on stage 12 to Peyragudes in the Pyrenees.

Results

Tour de France 2017 stage 11: Eymet to Pau (203.5km)

1 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Quick-Step Floors, in 4-34-27

2 Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo

3 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data

4 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb

5 Daniel Mclay (GBr) Team Fortuneo - Oscaro

6 Davide Cimolai (Ita) FDJ

7 André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal

8 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits

9 Ben Swift (GBr) UAE Team Emirates

10 Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team, all same time

General classification after stage 11

1. Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky, 47-01-55

2. Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana], at 18s

3. Romain Bardet (Fra) Ag2r La Mondiale, at 51s

4. Rigoberto Uran (Col) Cannondale-Drapac, at 55s

5. Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana, at 1-37

6. Daniel Martin (Irl) Quick-Step Floors, at 1-44

7. Simon Yates (GBr) Orica-Scott, at 2-02

8. Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar, at 2-13

9. Mikel Landa (Esp) Team Sky, at 3-06

10. George Bennett (NZl) LottoNL-Jumbo, at 3-53

Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors) took his fourth stage win in the 2017 Tour de France on Tuesday, sprinting to win stage 10 in Bergerac.

Kittel's German compatriot John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo) put in his best result of the 2017 Tour in second spot, with Dutch sprinter Dylan Groenewegen (LottoNL-Jumbo) in third. British sprinter Dan McLay (Fortuneo-Oscaro) placed seventh.

This time there was no need for a photo finish. Kittel's unrivalled acceleration after jumping off McLay's back wheel meant he was several bike lengths clear by the line.

"I can't believe it, I'm so happy," said an elated Kittel after the victory. "It's super-nice, the team worked again so hard."

>>> Tour de France 2017: Latest news, reports and race info

His latest win increases his lead in the points classification – and also means that he becomes the most successful German of all time at the Tour in terms of stage wins, with 13 career victories to Erik Zabel's 12.

"Of course [the German stage record] means something for me. I never expected it when I started my career... it's hard for me to imagine. I feel like I live in a small little bubble, in a small little world and it's not true".

"I had a pretty good spot," said Kittel of his positioning in the finale. "It was still relatively far with 500m to go after the last left corner. I saw McLay started to sprint early to come to the front, and that was my lead-out so from there on I hit the front at 220m. I feel really good in the sprints at the moment."

There was no change to the general classification, with all of the overall contenders coming home within the main peloton. Chris Froome (Team Sky) continues his 18-second lead over Italian Fabio Aru (Astana), with Frenchman Romain Bardet (Ag2r) in third at 51 seconds.

Briton Simon Yates (Orica-Scott) continues to lead the best young rider classification, and Frenchman Warren Barguil (Team Sunweb) is King of the Mountains.

>>> Can anyone beat Chris Froome? Experts have their say on how it could be done

Stage 10 - how it happened

Yoann Offredo (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) was the first rider to make an escape stick as the day kicked off in Périgueux, and for a short while it looked as though we would have a repeat of stage four with a lone Wanty rider out all day.

However, youngest rider in the race Elie Gesbert (Fortuneo-Oscaro) managed to bridge to Offredo to form a French duo.

Compared to the previous day of racing on Sunday, the stage unfolded in a very straightforward manner. The two escapees forged on, gaining a five-plus-minute advantage over the bunch. Then, after the half-way mark, their advantage started to get chipped away as the peloton eyed a bunch sprint finish.

With the duo caught with 7km to go, the break was caught. This signalled the peloton to noticeably increase its pace to prevent any further late attacks and keep things together for the sprinters.

Lotto-Soudal were by far the most organised of the teams heading into the finale, but Greipel – who had earlier 'won' the intermediate sprint out of the bunch – somehow found himself on Alexander Kristoff's (Katusha-Alpecin) wheel and badly positioned.

He sat up and had to settle to spectating as his compatriot Kittel swept to another victory.

On Wednesday, the riders tackle another similarly flat stage from Eymet to Pau albeit it with a longer 203.5km distance.

Another bunch sprint should be on the cards, and on his current form there would be few betting against Kittel taking a fifth win.

The 2017 Tour de France concludes on Sunday, July 23.

Watch: Tour de France 2017 week two preview

Result

Tour de France 2017, stage 10: Périgueux to Bergerac, 178km

1. Marcel Kittel (Ger) Quick-Step Floors, in 4-01-00

2. John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo

3. Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo

4. Rudiger Selig (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe

5. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha-Alpecin

6. Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Cofidis

7. Daniel McLay (GBr) Fortuneo-Oscaro

8. Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Bel) Wanty-Groupe Gobert

9. Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida

10. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data, all same time

General classification after stage 10

1. Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky, in 42-27-28

2. Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana], at 18s

3. Romain Bardet (Fra) Ag2r La Mondiale, at 51s

4. Rigoberto Uran (Col) Cannondale-Drapac, at 55s

5. Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana, at 1-37

6. Daniel Martin (Irl) Quick-Step Floors, at 1-44

7. Simon Yates (GBr) Orica-Scott, at 2-02

8. Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar, at 2-13

9. Mikel Landa (Spa) Team Sky, at 3-06

10. George Bennett (NZl) LottoNL-Jumbo, at 3-53

Quick-Step Floors concede the Tour de France stages "are boring always with the same image" every day but they don't mind because their sprinter Marcel Kittel keeps on winning.

>>> Five talking points from stage 10 of the Tour de France

The German sprinted first to Bergerac on stage 10, his fourth stage win in the 2017 Tour. With the win, he added more points to his lead in the green jersey competition.

"Tomorrow in Pau we won't sprint, we make echelons because everyone says it's boring!" general manager Patrick Lefevere said with a laugh.

"That's not my fault [that Mark Cavendish, Peter Sagan and Arnaud Démare are at home]. I think that this Kittel could even beat Cavendish. Last year, Cavendish beat us a few times, but with this Kittel, it's another game."

The Belgian boss says that the viewers must see the same thing when they turn on their televisions or stream the Tour de France. An escape riding by château after château, the inevitable catch and a Kittel win.

"The stages are boring because there's always a break with two to four guys, and you always have the same image: Julien Vermote leads the group [for Quick-Step]. But we don't make the Tour de France," Lefevere continued.

"[The other teams] have to have balls to go the whole day in the break, from kilometre zero, and not everyone has this."

If Kittel stage wins equal a boring Tour, Lefevere will welcome it. Stage 11 into Pau on Wednesday should produce another sprint, but the predicted winds may split the group.

"The riders make the Tour de France, you know that if BMC no longer has Richie Porte then Sky is happy. Just like Quick-Step with Kittel's domination? Yes, of course."

Kittel now counts 275 points in the green jersey competition with his four wins. Australian Michael Matthews (Sunweb) sits second with 173.

"It's very important to see day by day and focus on getting points in the intermediates and end of sprints," Kittel said. "Even at the end of stage 21, anything can go wrong.

"Mike Matthews was in a big break on Sunday, surviving two hors catégorie climbs and wins the intermediate sprint afterwards. There's nothing I can do about it. He's strong. I have to do my work in the flat stages, get the points here and hope it's enough."

Kittel comes in waves. In 2014, he won four stages, but after missing 2015, he only managed one sprint win in 2016. Again this year, he has four.

"I think I can say I'm the strongest Marcel at the moment. I never felt better, I'm in very good condition, that's something that is a big achievement for me," he added.

"To know that I did everything in a perfect way and the planning worked out, that's also the difference in the years before."

Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors) almost left it too late to claim his third stage victory of the 2017 Tour de France in a close sprint battle with Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data).

>>> Five talking points from stage seven of the Tour de France

The two riders appeared to cross the line simultaneously in Nuits-Saint-Georges at the end of stage seven on Friday. Neither rider celebrated as they finished – a sure sign of how close it was. However, after the jury studied the finish-line photo they awarded the win to Kittel. That makes 12 career Tour stage victories for Kittel, equalling Erik Zabel's tally to become joint most successful German sprinter at the Tour.

Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb) finished third, with British sprinter Dan McLay (Fortuneo) in 10th.

Chris Froome (Team Sky) finished in the peloton alongside all of the general classification contenders to retain the overall lead. Team Sky team-mate and fellow British rider Geraint Thomas stays in second spot at 12 seconds, with Italian Fabio Aru (Astana) in third at 14 seconds.

>>> Tour de France 2017: Latest news, reports and race info

The way the stage played out was virtually a carbon copy of the previous day's stage, with a four-man escape group going off early but not being given much leeway by the peloton.

The quartet comprised Yohann Gène (Direct Energie), Dylan van Baarle (Cannondale-Drapac), Maxime Bouet (Fortuneo-Oscaro) and Manuele Mori (UAE Team Emirates), who pushed out the gap to three and a half minutes at the mid-way point.

Crosswinds had been rumoured on the open countryside through the region's vineyards, but ultimately they did not really materialise and certainly didn't play a part in the stage.

Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) was perhaps the most unfortunate rider of the day, crashing twice in minor incidents but quickly got back up and running each time.

As the race heading into the final 30km it was the GC contenders' teams rather than sprinters' squads that lined up at the front of the bunch, keeping their prize fighters safe in the event of crashes. At 15km to go, the break still had 50 seconds over the chasing pack.

That changed with 10km to go, as the sprinters' trains assembled at the head of the peloton, with the pace significantly upped. Gene was the first of the break to get caught with 7km to go, and Mori, van Baarle and Bouet were caught with 6km remaining.

The speed into the finish was blistering, as the bunch hit over 60kmh into Nuits-Saint-Georges. There was some jostling for position, even at 2km out, with Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) and Arnaud Démare (FDJ) briefly touching shoulders.

Kittel's Quick-Step Floors team led the way before Dimension Data took over for Boasson Hagen. Kittel tucked in behind Boasson Hagen, but as the Norwegian launched his full-on effort Kittel was slightly distanced. Somehow, the German made up the ground in the final 75 metres to nick the win – he later admitted that he miscalculated the distance to the finish from the final corner.

After Frenchman Démare (FDJ) finished outside the top 10, Kittel now wears the green jersey of points classification leader.

The 2017 Tour de France now moves into the Jura mountains, with a hilly stage on Saturday – perhaps favouring a break – and a high mountain stage on Sunday. The race concludes in Paris on Sunday, July 23.

Results

Tour de France 2017, stage seven: Troyes to Nuits-Saint-Georges, 213.5km

1. Marcel Kittel (Ger) Quick-Step Floors, in 5-03-18

2. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data

3. Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb

4. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha-Alpecin

5. John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo

6. Dyan Groenewegen (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo

7. Rüdiger Selig (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe

8. Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Cofidis

9. André Greipel (Ger) Lotto-Soudal

10. Daniel McLay (GBr) Fortuneo-Oscaro, all same time

Other

48. Chris Froome (GBr) Team Sky, at same time

General classification after stage seven

1. Chris Froome (GBr) Team Sky

2. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky at 12s

3. Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana at 14s

4. Dan Martin (Irl) Quick-Step Floors at 25s

5. Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing at 39s

6. Simon Yates (GBr) Orica-Scott at 43s

7. Romain Bardet (Fra) Ag2r La Mondiale at 47s

8. Alberto Contador (Spa) Trek-Segafredo at 52s

9. Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar at 54s

10. Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe at 1-01

Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors) said that he won't chase the Tour de France green jersey "at all costs", even after Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) was disqualified from the race.

Speaking after his first stage win in Liège on stage two, Kittel said that it wasn't possible for a pure sprinter such as himself to win the points classification, but with Sagan out of the picture, the hunt for the green jersey has been blown wide open.

However the German sprinter, who now sits second in the points classification after winning stage six, 27 points behind Arnaud Démare (FDJ), says that stage wins are still his priority.

>>> Five talking points from stage six of the Tour de France

"I said before that I'm only interested in stage wins," Kittel said after taking the 11th Tour de France stage of his career.

"That’s where you score those big points which are very important for the green jersey classification, and in a few days or a week we will see what the classification looks like and if there is still a realistic chance or not.

"I won’t give up. I have it in my focus but I won’t be pushing it at all costs."

If Kittel is to win green then consistency will be key, with Quick-Step Floors sports director Tom Steels saying that the missing out on one sprint could be crucial with none of the riders still in the mix able to employ alternative tactics.

>>> Court of Arbitration for Sport upholds Peter Sagan's disqualification from Tour de France

"I think it's going to be a long battle," Steels, a nine-time Tour de France stage winner himself, told reporters at the finish of stage six in Troyes.

"Everyone sprinter now has their limits, so to go in the break like Sagan can do, that's out.

"For the green jersey there are a few sprints to go so you cannot miss out on one sprint. It will be a real battle."

Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors) showed that he is in flying form at the 2017 Tour de France, claiming his second stage of the race on Thursday.

Kittel accelerated from behind his rivals in a perfectly-timed effort to win stage six in Troyes, having already won stage two on Sunday. It brings Kittel's career Tour stage win tally up to 11.

French national champion Arnaud Démare (FDJ) came home in second place with German André Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) in third.

There was no change to the general classification, with all of the main contenders finishing safely within the main peloton. Chris Froome (Team Sky) maintained his 12-second lead over team-mate Geraint Thomas, with Italian Fabio Aru (Astana) in third at 14 seconds.

>>> Tour de France 2017: Latest news, reports and race info

After the excitement of the previous two stages, stage six served up a relatively calm day, with a three-man escape group out front in hot, sunny conditions.

Frenchman Perrig Quéméneur (Direct Energie), Norwegian Vegard Stake Laengen (UAE Team Emirates) and Belgian Frederik Backaert (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) worked well together in the break, but were never allowed to gain more than around four minutes on the peloton.

With 90km to go, a loose parasol found its way into the bunch. Amazingly, all riders managed to avoid crashing into it as it skittered across the road.

>>> Watch: Riders manage to avoid large parasol blown into Tour de France peloton (video)

A succession of riders from the sprinters' teams sat at the front of peloton, with FDJ, Cofidis, Lotto-Soudal, Katusha and Quick-Step Floors all represented, keeping the break in constant check.

With that arsenal of firepower all interested in catching the break before setting up the inevitable bunch sprint, the trio were never going to make it to the finish unchallenged. They were swept up with 3km to go.

Despite the chicane and tight roundabout in the run-in to the line, there were thankfully no crashes and no repeat of the controversy of the last sprint stage on Tuesday that saw Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) withdraw with crash injury and Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) disqualified.

However, the flow of some of the top teams' lead-out trains was disrupted as the bunch was strung out in the corners, leaving Kittel to do the work for himself. Accelerating up the left-hand side of the road, Kittel simply looked as though he was riding a gear higher than his rivals.

Démare's second place means that he keeps hold of the green jersey of points classification leader. Kittel is closing in, with 143 points to Démare's 170.

The 2017 Tour de France continues on Friday with stage seven, another long 213.5km day from Troyes to Nuits Saint Georges and should finish with a bunch sprint as the profile is relatively flat. The race concludes in Paris on Sunday, July 23.

Results

Tour de France 2017, stage six: Vesoul to Troyes, 216km

1. Marcel Kittel (Ger) Quick-Step Floors, in 5-05-34

2. Arnaud Démare (Fra) FDJ

3. André Greipel (Ger) Lotto-Soudal

4. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha-Alpecin

5. Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Cofidis

6. Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo

7. Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb

8. Daniel McLay (GBr) Fortuneo-Oscaro

9. Rüdiger Selig (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe

10. John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo, all same time

Other

56. Chris Froome (GBr) Team Sky, at same time

General classification after stage six

1. Chris Froome (GBr) Team Sky in 23-44-33

2. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky at 12s

3. Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team at 14s

4. Dan Martin (Irl) Quick Step Floors at 25s

5. Richie Porte (Aus) BMC at 39s

6. Simon Yates (GBr) Orica-Scott at 43s

7. Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale at47s

8. Alberto Contador (Spa) Trek Segafredo at 52s

9. Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar at 54s

10. Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora Hansgrohe at 1-01

Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors) may have taken the green jersey after stage two of the Tour de France, but he thinks there is little chance of a pure sprinter like him taking it all the way to Paris unless woe befalls Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe).

Sagan has won the points classification on each of the previous five editions of the Tour, and is looking to add a sixth title that will draw him level with Erik Zabel's record for green jersey wins.

Speaking after winning stage two of the Tour into Liège, which also gave him an early 25 point lead at the top of the points classification, Kittel said that as the system currently works there is little chance of him wearing green in Paris.

>>> Marcel KIttel powers to Tour de France stage two victory as Geraint Thomas retains yellow

"When you look at the last five Tours de France, every time it’s Peter Sagan," Kittel said, resplendent in green in the post-race press conference.

"There was always a sprinter who won four stages and did not even have a small chance of going for green. The only way you can win the jersey is if Peter Sagan gets sick or has to leave the race for another reason.

"Look at the last years and you have always had a very successful sprinter. Last year it was Mark Cavendish, the year before it was André Greipel, the year before that it was me, and none of us had any chance of going for the green jersey."

Asked whether he thought a rule change was needed to give pure sprinters more of a chance of ending Sagan's dominance, Kittel said that it was up to race organisers ASO to make the decisions.

"If you want to make it more in favour of those sort of riders then you probably have to change something, but in the end it’s the jersey of ASO.

"They are responsible for it, they have to decide which type of rider they want to see in it. At the moment it definitely favours an all-rounder and not a pure sprinter. That decision is not up to me and I cannot wish whatever I want. It is up to ASO to decide."