Marcel Kittel

Marcel Kittel

Marcel Kittel (2018)
To person
Nickname	Dolph Lundgren
Date of birth	May 11, 1988
nation	Germany
discipline	Street
Driver type	sprinter
End of career	2019
Team (s)
2007–2010 2011 2012–2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018–2019	Thuringian Energy Team Skil-Shimano Team Argos-Shimano Team Giant-Shimano Team Giant-Alpecin Etixx-Quick Step Quick-Step Floors Team Katusha Alpecin
Most important successes
14 stages Tour de France 4 stages Giro d'Italia 1 stage Vuelta a España 5 × Scheldt price
Last updated: August 23, 2019

Smock as wearer of the green jersey after the ninth stage of the Tour de France 2017 in Chambéry

Yellow Tour de France jersey by Kittel from 2014 in Koers, Belgium . Museum van de Wielersport

Marcel Kittel (born May 11, 1988 in Arnstadt ) is a former German cyclist . The sprint specialist was a twenty-time stage winner at Grand Tours .

Athletic career

Junior and U23

In 2005, Kittel won stages in the junior class at the Course de la Paix , the Sint-Martinusprijs and the Lower Saxony Tour . He won the individual time trial at the Junior World Championship in Salzburg . The next year he defended his title on the Belgian circuit in Spa-Francorchamps . He also won stages in the Cottbus Bundesliga stage race, the La Coupe du Président de la Ville de Grudziądz , the Trofeo Karlsberg , the Sint-Martinusprijs, the Lower Saxony Tour and the Tour de Lorraine , which he also won overall decided. In 2006 he was also German champion in the individual and team time trial . From 2007 to 2010 Kittel drove for the Thuringian Energy Team . In his first year there he was national champion in the individual time trial in the U-23 class.

Skil-Shimano

From the 2011 season went gowns for Team Skil-Shimano , which from the 2012 season, Argos-Shimano and from 2014 Giant-Shimano said. In the 2011 season he won the third stage of the Tour de Langkawi at the end of January . Further successes followed, including four stage wins at the Four Days of Dunkirk , victory at the first ProRace Berlin and a stage and overall victory at the Delta Tour Zeeland . At the 2011 Tour of Poland at the end of July / beginning of August, he was able to achieve stage successes in a World Tour race for the first time with four stage wins . Finally, on the seventh stage of the Vuelta a España, a few weeks later he also clinched his first stage win in a three-week tour of the country. Kittel had a total of 17 victories at the end of the 2011 season, making him the driver with the second-most victories of the year behind Philippe Gilbert . The 2011 season for Kittel was the most successful season for a neoprofessional in the history of cycling.

In the 2012 season, Kittel won 13 UCI races. On his Tour de France debut, he gave up on the fifth stage after a gastrointestinal infection and knee pain . At the beginning of the 2013 season, he achieved another success in a World Tour race as a sprint winner on the second stage from Paris – Nice . In 2013 he won the first stage of the 100th Tour de France in a mass sprint in Bastia on Corsica and was the 14th cyclist from Germany to wear the yellow jersey . He was also able to win the white jersey for the best young driver for one day. There were also three more stage wins, including the final stage with the finish on the Champs-Élysées . He also won four stages in the 2014 Tour de France , including both the opening and closing stages, and wore the yellow jersey on one stage.

In the spring of 2015, Kittel suffered from a persistent virus infection. He was later not nominated by his team for the 2015 Tour de France . During the entire year, he was unable to match the shape of previous years and only won one stage of the Tour of Poland . The relationship between Kittel and the team was considered tense. In October, the contract, which actually ran until the end of 2015, was terminated by mutual agreement. Shortly afterwards, Kittel announced that he would drive for Etixx-Quick Step from 2016 .

Quick-Step

In 2016, Kittel won the Scheldeprijs for the fourth time and was the record holder in this race, ahead of the British Mark Cavendish with three wins. A few weeks later, Marcel Kittel won the second and third stages of the Giro d'Italia , which were held in the Netherlands. After his victory in the third stage, he took the lead in the overall standings and was awarded the Maglia Rosa . As such, he entered the fourth stage, now in Italy, and was hailed in the Italian press as the beautiful in pink ( il bello in pink ) and il bello Marcello .

In 2017 he won the Scheldeprijs again, as well as the overall ranking, three stages and the points classification of the Dubai Tour . His opponent Andrej Griwko was excluded from the Dubai Tour after a blow to Kittel.

Kittel also won five stages in the 2017 Tour de France . After his fourth stage win on the tenth stage , he became the sole German record stage winner . On the 17th stage in the Alps, Kittel had to give up the race after a fall. At that time he was leading the scoring and wore the green jersey . He auctioned this for the benefit of the Deutsche PSP-Gesellschaft eV via the charity auction platform United Charity ; it generated proceeds of 4,900 euros.

Katusha and end of career

In August 2017, Kittel signed a two-year contract for the 2018 and 2019 seasons with Team Katusha Alpecin . At the Tour de France 2018 , Kittel could not build on the successes from the previous year and retired without a stage win after the 11th stage because he did not finish within the waiting period . After Kittel had only won the Trofeo Palma in the 2019 season , his contract with Katusha was terminated by mutual agreement at the beginning of May with immediate effect. Kittel said he felt exhausted and currently unable to train at the highest level.

On August 23, 2019, Kittel announced the end of his racing career. With a view to his family planning, he is no longer prepared to accept the loss of quality of life caused by the demands of cycling. He announced that he would start studying economics at the University of Konstanz . He was hired by ZDF as a television expert for the broadcast of the Deutschland Tour 2019 .

Honors

In 2013, 2014 and 2017 Marcel Kittel was named German Cyclist of the Year and Sportsman of the Year in Thuringia .

In addition, he was named athlete of the year 2013 in Germany's largest public vote by Sport1. In October 2014 he received the “ Golden Hen ” as “Newcomer of the Year”. Also in 2014 he was Erfurt Sportsman of the Year.

Others

Because of his resemblance to action film actor Dolph Lundgren , Kittel is nicknamed the latter. In addition, he was nicknamed The Kaiser by the French after his victories at the Tour de France 2017 .

His manager was Jörg Werner .

successes

2005 World Champion - Individual Time Trial (Juniors) 2006 one stage Trofeo Karlsberg (juniors) German Champion - Individual Time Trial (Juniors) World Champion - Individual Time Trial (Juniors) 2007 German Champion - Individual Time Trial (U23) a stage Brandenburg tour 2008 Memorial Davide Fardelli 2009 one stage Tour du Haut Anjou two stages of the Flèche du Sud one stage International Tour of Thuringia (U23) European Champion - Individual Time Trial (U23) 2010 German Champion - Individual Time Trial (U23) one stage Festningsrittet World Championship - Individual Time Trial (U23) 2011 one stage Tour de Langkawi four stages and points classification Quatre Jours de Dunkerque ProRace Berlin Overall ranking and one stage of the Delta Tour Zeeland four stages of the Tour de Pologne a stage Vuelta a España Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen Sparkassen Münsterland Giro two stage Herald Sun Tour 2012 a stage of the Étoile de Bessèges two stage tour of Oman a stage Driedaagse van De Panne-Koksijde Grote Scheldeprijs two stages and points evaluation Ster ZLM Toer two stages Eneco Tour Omloop van het Houtland two stages Circuit Franco-Belge Sparkassen Münsterland Giro 2013 one stage Tour of Oman a stage Paris – Nice

Scheldeprijs three stage Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey Overall classification, two stages and points classification Tour de Picardie ProRace Berlin a stage of the ZLM Toer four stages of the Tour de France Omloop van het Houtland 2014 Down Under Classic three stages and points scoring Dubai Tour Scheldeprijs two stages of the Giro d'Italia a stage of the ZLM Toer four stages of the Tour de France two stage Tour of Britain 2015 Down Under Classic One stage and points scoring Tour of Poland 2016 World champion - team time trial Overall classification, two stages and points classification Dubai Tour two stages and points scoring Volta ao Algarve a stage Driedaagse van De Panne-Koksijde Scheldeprijs a stage Tour de Romandie two stages of the Giro d'Italia German championships - road racing a stage Tour de France Grand Prix de Fourmies 2017 Overall classification, three stages and points classification Dubai Tour one stage Abu Dhabi tour a stage Driedaagse van De Panne-Koksijde Scheldeprijs one stage tour of California a stage of the ZLM Toer five stages of the Tour de France 2018 two stages Tirreno – Adriatico 2019 Trofeo Palma

Grand Tour placements

Grand Tour	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
Giro d'Italia	-	-	-	DNF	-	DNF	-	-	-
Tour de France	-	DNF	166	161	-	166	DNF	DNF	-
Vuelta a España	DNF	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Legend: DNF: did not finish , abandoned or withdrawn from the race due to timeout.

Private life

Marcel Kittel is in a relationship with the Dutch volleyball player Tess von Piekartz and lives in Kreuzlingen on the Swiss shore of Lake Constance . The two have had a son since 2019.

Web links

Commons : Marcel Kittel  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website
• Marcel Kittel in the Radsportseiten.net database
• Marcel Kittel in the ProCyclingStats.com database

Individual evidence

1. ↑ radsport-news.com from October 16, 2011: Kittel goes into the winter break with 17 wins
2. ↑ Procycling issue 01/2012: the best debutante ( memento of the original from January 15, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved March 25, 2013. 
3. ↑ radsport-news.com from July 6th, 2012: Kittel gave up because of knee pain
4. ↑ Jürgen Löhle: The Tour de France. German professionals and their successes . Delius-Klasing, Bielefeld 2017, ISBN 978-3-667-10922-4 , p. 158 .
5. ↑ What's wrong with Marcel Kittel? ' n-tv.de, July 6, 2015, accessed on November 5, 2015 . 
6. ↑ Kittel: “I need a fresh start”. radsport-news.com, October 2, 2015, accessed November 6, 2015 . 
7. ↑ “We'll still see the best of Marcel Kittel!” Radsport-news.com, October 5, 2015, accessed on November 6, 2015 . 
8. ↑ Daniel Benson & Stephen Farrand: Scheldeprijs 2016: Results - Cyclingnews.com. In: cyclingnews.com. April 6, 2016, accessed April 6, 2016 . 
9. ↑ The beautiful one in pink. faz.net, May 9, 2016, accessed May 9, 2016 . 
10. ↑ radsport-news.com - Marcello il Bello a spectacle, a force of nature, a miracle. radsport-news.com, April 23, 2015, accessed May 9, 2016 . 
11. ↑ Grivko excluded after being hit against Kittel. faz.net, February 2, 2017, accessed July 7, 2017 . 
12. ↑ Marcel Kittel also wins the 11th stage. sport1.de, July 12, 2017, accessed on July 12, 2017 . 
13. ↑ Kittel is now the sole German record holder with 13 wins. radsport-news.com, July 11, 2017, accessed July 12, 2017 . 
14. ↑ Kittel: "After the fall I thought - not so cool". radsport-news.com, July 19, 2017, accessed July 20, 2017 . 
15. ↑ Marcel Kittel's jersey auction achieves almost 5000 euros. In: Roadcycling. Retrieved April 10, 2018 . 
16. ↑ Christian Radnedge, Shrivathsa Sridhar: Cycling: Kittel swaps Belgium's Quick-Step for Katusha Alpecin. Reuters, August 16, 2017, accessed September 2, 2017 . 
17. ↑ Kittel after Tour-Aus: “I couldn't have done more”. In: radsport-news.com. July 19, 2018. Retrieved July 19, 2018 . 
18. ↑ Kittel and Katusha - Alpecin split up. In: radsport-news.com. May 9, 2019, accessed May 9, 2019 . 
19. ↑ Kittel resigns and becomes a student. In: radsport-news.com. August 23, 2019, accessed August 23, 2019 . 
20. ↑ dpa: “Le Kaisöör” without qualification. In: sueddeutsche.de . Retrieved August 28, 2019 . 
21. ↑ “Die Sport1” for FCB, Kittel and Klimke. (No longer available online.) Sport1.de, January 6, 2014, archived from the original on January 9, 2014 ; accessed on January 6, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
22. ↑ rbb-online.de: “My hen house is growing and growing”, accessed on October 12, 2014
23. ↑ Sprintstar Kittel is completely the same again. t-online.de, July 6, 2016, accessed on July 20, 2017 . 
24. ↑ Kittel and Katusha - Alpecin split up. In: radsport-news.com. May 9, 2019, accessed May 10, 2019 . 
25. ↑ Westfälische Nachrichten : Marcel Kittel sprints in the pink jersey - Cycling: Two stage wins at the Giro d'Italia , Arnhem, sid, Sport, May 9, 2016
26. ↑ DER SPIEGEL No. 35/2019, page 97: Everything to zero
27. ↑ Frederic von Moers: Kittel is a proud papa: Sweet picture - and unusual name. eurosport.de, December 8, 2019, accessed on May 3, 2020 .