# Marcel Kittel

Marcel Kittel (born 11 May 1988) is a German former racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2011 and 2019 for the Team Giant–Alpecin, Quick-Step Floors and Team Katusha–Alpecin squads. As a junior, he specialised in time trials, even winning a bronze medal in the World Championships for cyclists aged under 23. When he became a professional in 2011, he specialised in bunch sprints, winning 19 stages across the three Grand Tours, and taking 89 wins in his professional career.
After retirement, he works as an ambassador for Endura and ROSE Bikes.

## Career
### Skil–Shimano (2011–15)
#### 2011 season

Kittel made his professional debut in 2011 with the Dutch team Skil–Shimano. Known as a time trial specialist at the time, he won a bunch sprint during the Tour de Langkawi. After the success he decided to become a sprinter. He then won four out of five stages in the Four Days of Dunkirk, all in bunch sprints. Kittel won his first World Tour stage, winning the opening stage of the Tour de Pologne, a race where he also won three other stages. He also made his Grand Tour debut in the Vuelta a España, where he won the seventh stage beating Peter Sagan and Óscar Freire. He finished the season off by winning two stages at the Herald Sun Tour. Kittel became the second most winning rider in 2011 - with 17 wins.

#### 2012 season

Kittel made his Tour de France debut in 2012 when he was selected as leader of his team, where he would compete for stage wins and the green jersey. However he withdrew an hour into stage 5, after suffering from a viral infection of the stomach and intestines from stage 2, the fourth retirement of the 2012 Tour. He bounced back at the beginning of August, when he won the first stage of the Eneco Tour, the first event in his return to racing. The only rider who was competitive with him in the final bunch sprint was Frenchman Arnaud Démare (FDJ–BigMat). After bad luck struck on stage 3, where he suffered a flat tyre with 5 kilometres (3.1 miles) to go, Kittel prevailed again on stage 4. He congratulated his teammates Tom Veelers and John Degenkolb for their work in the final kilometres, as they sheltered him from the wind before he propelled himself toward the finish line and the victory. At the end of 2012, as the cycling world was affected by the Lance Armstrong doping case revelations, Kittel took a vocal anti-doping stance by stating that he was "sick" of the people who still defended Armstrong in the cycling community.

#### 2013 season

In 2013, Kittel's team Argos–Shimano was promoted to the first division of the sport and was granted World Tour status. Kittel won the first stage of the Tour of Oman in a sprint finish, his first success of the season. In the Tour de France, Kittel found success as a sprinter. He finished first in the Tour's first stage in Corsica and took the first maillot jaune of the 100th Tour de France. He lost the yellow jersey the next day, however, to Jan Bakelants of RadioShack–Leopard. Kittel was not done in this Tour, though, he would go on to win the 10th and 12th stages. On the final stage, Kittel triumphed again on the Champs-Élysées, ending the four-year winning streak of Omega Pharma–Quick-Step rider Mark Cavendish. He would finish 4th in the Green Jersey points standings.

#### 2014 season

Kittel started the 2014 season early by winning the Down Under Classic, followed by three consecutive stage wins at the Dubai Tour. On the third stage, he survived two short climbs near the end of the race and won the sprint of a greatly reduced group. In April he won the Scheldeprijs for the third time in a row, the first rider to achieve this. In the Giro d'Italia, Kittel won stages 2 and 3 in Belfast and Dublin respectively, but abandoned the race before it reached Italian soil. As he did in 2013, Kittel won the opening stage at the Tour de France and took the yellow jersey, but lost it to Vincenzo Nibali on stage 2. However, Kittel won both stages 3 and 4. He also won the final stage 21 on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, as he did in 2013. In September, Kittel won the opening stage of the Tour of Britain by outsprinting Nicola Ruffoni and Mark Cavendish. He also won the closing stage.

#### 2015 season

In January, Kittel won the Down Under Classic in Australia for the second year in a row. By the end of April, he had competed in only two UCI races: the Tour Down Under and the Tour of Qatar. He failed to participate in any sprints in those races, as he was plagued by a virus. He returned to competition in May in the Tour de Yorkshire, but he dropped out after riding 100 kilometres (62 miles) in the first stage. He was supposed to make another comeback at the Tour of California but he withdrew days before the event, citing illness once again. He did ride the Ster ZLM Toer, but could not finish in the top 10 of a stage. At the end of June, it was announced that Kittel would not participate in the Tour de France, since his condition was not up to par. "Not being nominated [for the Tour] is without doubt the most difficult time of my career," said Kittel a day after his non-selection was made public.

### Etixx–Quick-Step (2016–17)

In October 2015, it was announced that he had signed a two-year deal with Etixx–Quick-Step from 2016, after Team Giant–Alpecin released him from his contract a year early.

#### 2016 season

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

#### 2017 season

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

### Team Katusha–Alpecin (2018–19)
#### 2018 season

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

#### 2019 season

Kittel started the 2019 season strongly, winning the Trofeo Palma, part of the Challenge Mallorca, and taking second place at the Clásica de Almería. He pulled out of the Tour of California and the Tour de Yorkshire before the races started, citing health issues. On 9 May 2019, his contract with Team Katusha–Alpecin was terminated. This was a mutual decision by the team management and Kittel, who opted to take time off from professional cycling because of fatigue.
Kittel announced his retirement from professional cycling on 23 August 2019.

## Major results

Source:

### 2004

    1st Road race, National Novice Road Championships

### 2005

    1st Time trial, UCI Junior Road World Championships
    2nd Time trial, National Junior Road Championships

### 2006

    1st Time trial, UCI Junior Road World Championships
    National Junior Road Championships
       1st Time trial
       1st Team time trial
    1st Stage 3a (ITT) Trofeo Karlsberg

### 2007

    1st Time trial, National Under-23 Road Championships
    1st Stage 4 Brandenburg Rundfahrt

### 2008

    1st Grosser Silber-Pils Preiss
    1st Memorial Davide Fardelli
    2nd Overall Brandenburg Rundfahrt
       1st Stage 5

### 2009

    1st Time trial, UEC European Under-23 Road Championships
    1st Stage 6 Thüringen Rundfahrt der U23
    4th Time trial, UCI Under-23 Road World Championships
    4th Neuseen Classics
    6th La Côte Picarde
    7th Overall Flèche du Sud
       1st Stages 1 & 3
    8th Overall Le Triptyque des Monts et Châteaux
    9th Overall Tour du Haut-Anjou
       1st Stage 4

### 2010

    1st Time trial, National Under-23 Road Championships
    Tour de Moselle
       1st Stages 2 & 4
    2nd Overall Mainfranken-Tour
    3rd Time trial, UCI Under-23 Road World Championships
    3rd Overall Festningsrittet
       1st Stage 2
    3rd Memorial Davide Fardelli

### 2011

    1st Overall Delta Tour Zeeland
       1st Stage 1
    1st ProRace Berlin
    1st Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen
    1st Münsterland Giro
    1st Amstel Curaçao Race
    Four Days of Dunkirk
       1st Points classification
       1st Stages 1, 2, 3 & 5
    Tour de Pologne
       1st Stages 1, 2, 3 & 7
    Herald Sun Tour
       1st Stages 3 & 5
    1st Stage 3 Tour de Langkawi
    1st Stage 7 Vuelta a España
    2nd Rund um Köln
    3rd Trofeo Palma de Mallorca
    6th Trofeo Cala Millor

### 2012

    1st Scheldeprijs
    1st Omloop van het Houtland
    1st Münsterland Giro
    Ster ZLM Toer
       1st Points classification
       1st Stages 1 & 4
    Eneco Tour
       1st Stages 1 & 4
    Tour of Oman
       1st Stages 3 & 6
    Tour de l'Eurométropole
       1st Stages 2 & 3
    1st Stage 2 Three Days of De Panne
    1st Stage 2 Étoile de Bessèges
    2nd Handzame Classic
    3rd Grand Prix de Fourmies
    7th Grand Prix Impanis-Van Petegem

### 2013

    1st Overall Tour de Picardie
       1st Points classification
       1st Stages 1 & 3
    1st Scheldeprijs
    1st Omloop van het Houtland
    1st ProRace Berlin
    Tour de France
       1st Stages 1, 10, 12 & 21
       Held after Stage 1
       Held after Stages 1 & 2
    Tour of Turkey
       1st Stages 1, 7 & 8
    1st Stage 2 Paris–Nice
    1st Stage 1 Tour of Oman
    6th Overall Ster ZLM Toer
       1st Stage 2

### 2014

    1st Down Under Classic
    1st Scheldeprijs
    Tour de France
       1st Stages 1, 3, 4 & 21
       Held & after Stage 1
    Giro d'Italia
       1st Stages 2 & 3
       Held after Stages 2 & 3
    Tour of Britain
       1st Stages 1 & 8b
    1st Stage 1 Ster ZLM Toer
    5th Overall Three Days of De Panne
    6th Overall Dubai Tour
       1st Points classification
       1st Stages 2, 3 & 4
    6th Vattenfall Cyclassics

### 2015

    1st Down Under Classic
    Tour de Pologne
       1st Points classification
       1st Stage 1
    6th Rund um Köln

### 2016

    1st Team time trial, UCI Road World Championships
    1st Overall Dubai Tour
       1st Points classification
       1st Stages 1 & 4
    1st Scheldeprijs
    1st Grand Prix de Fourmies
    Giro d'Italia
       1st Stages 2 & 3
       Held after Stage 3
       Held after Stages 2–6
    Volta ao Algarve
       1st Points classification
       1st Stages 1 & 4
    1st Stage 1 Tour de Romandie
    1st Stage 3a Three Days of De Panne
    1st Stage 4 Tour de France
    3rd Road race, National Road Championships

### 2017

    1st Overall Dubai Tour
       1st Points classification
       1st Stages 1, 2 & 5
    1st Scheldeprijs
    Tour de France
       1st Stages 2, 6, 7, 10 & 11
       Held after Stages 2–3 & 7–16
    1st Stage 1 Tour of California
    1st Stage 2 Abu Dhabi Tour
    1st Stage 3a Three Days of De Panne
    1st Stage 4 Ster ZLM Toer
    4th Münsterland Giro

### 2018

    Tirreno–Adriatico
       1st Stages 2 & 6
    5th Rund um Köln

### 2019

    1st Trofeo Palma
    2nd Clásica de Almería

### Grand Tour general classification results timeline

| | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 |
| Giro d'Italia | — | — | — | DNS-4 | — | DNS-9 | — | — |
| Stages won | — | — | — | 2 | — | 2 | — | — |
| Points classification | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Tour de France | — | DNF-5 | 166 | 161 | — | 166 | DNF-17 | HD-11 |
| Stages won | — | 0 | 4 | 4 | — | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| Points classification | — | — | 4 | 4 | — | 2 | — | — |
| Vuelta a España | DNS-13 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Stages won | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Points classification | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Legend :
| 1 | Winner |
| 2–3 | Top three-finish |
| 4–10 | Top ten-finish |
| 11– | Other finish |
| DNE | Did not enter |
| DNF-x | Did not finish (retired on stage x) |
| DNS-x | Did not start (not started on stage x) |
| HD | Finished outside time limit (occurred on stage x) |
| DSQ | Disqualified |
| N/A | Race/classification not held |
| NR | Not ranked in this classification |