Marcel Kittel (Skil-Shimano) will be quitting the Vuelta a España and heading home after today’s twelfth stage, despite initially declaring his intention to make it all the way to Madrid. The 23-year-old German is riding a three-week Grand Tour for the first time in his career and is exhausted after three mountaintop finishes in a tough first week and a half.
The stage, between Ponteareas and Pontevedra, in the very south western part of Galicia in the north west of the country, is one of the few in the race to suit the sprinters. After his impressive victory in the only other sprinters’ stage so far to Talavera de la Reina on stage seven, Kittel will be one of the big favourites to take the victory before he goes home.
“I hope there’s a sprint at the finish of today’s stage,” the German said before the start. “It won’t be easy but I think that I have a good chance for a second stage win.
“I hope it won’t be too difficult for me before the sprint,” he added. “It’s been really hard for me to ride the Vuelta until stage twelve; this is my first Grand Tour. I’m really tired, but I’ve already gained so much experience from this first participation to the Vuelta.”
Kittel is racing his first season at this level, having spent his development years at the small German Continental team Thüringer Energie. So far though, he has taken a stage in the Tour de Langkawi, four in the Four Days of Dunkerque, the Berlin ProRace, a stage and the overall victory at the Delta Tour Zeeland, then four more stages at the Tour of Poland before his maiden Vuelta victory.
With that level of success, the Skil-Shimano team has total confidence in the young German and so will be putting all of its energy behind Kittel on the way to the finish line in Pontevedra.
“Don’t miss our TV show!” warned Skil-Shimano’s Japanese rider Yukihiro Doi, referring to the lead out that the team has planned.
Unfortunately, with British sprinter Mark Cavendish (HTC-Highroad) forced to leave the race midway through stage four, the Vuelta was denied a match up between the two sprinters. Kittel has beaten the rest of the World class field though, and could well be a big favourite for the World championships road race in Copenhagen on September 25th, should he make the German team.