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.
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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.
