Dubai: ‘Big German’ Marcel Kittel showed he could be an ideal replacement for Mark Cavendish in the Etixx-Quick-Step team by powering his way to victory in the 173km Dubai Silicon Oasis Stage One of the Dubai Tour on Wednesday.
The win was more resounding for Kittel as he showed strong legs to brush aside the challenge from Cavendish, who finished four seconds behind and Italian Giacomo Nizzolo of Trek-Segafredo was third — six seconds behind.
A lot of eyebrows were raised when Quick-Step signed Kittel at the backdrop of a disappointing season after Cavendish decided to switch to Dimension Data. However, the power-packed performance will clearly put the talks to rest and Kittel was elated with his showing.
“Especially after the half-season last year, I am incredibly happy that I could win and even more so because the boys did a really, really good job,” said a jubilant Kittel, who struggled with illness and was sidelined in the Tour de France by Giant-Alpecin last season.
“Everyone saw today that we were the strongest in the lead out today. We talked a lot about it before but to go so well in the first day was incredible,” added Kittel, who for now, has displayed the form that saw him win four stages in the 2013 and 2014 Tour de France and three stages in the inaugural Dubai Tour in 2014.
Kittel was of the view that his team set a very good timing all through and was always in control of the proceedings. The Etixx-Quick-Step team had made sure that Kittel’s Dubai debut was backed by some strong riders that comprised Tony Martin, Fabio Sabatini, Matteo Trentin, Nikolas Maes, Julien Vermote, Lukasz Wisniowski and IIjo Keisse. All of them worked well to lay the perfect platform for Kittel to make his move in the final bunch sprint.
“They put things really well and for now, we don’t have anything to sit and discuss where we can do better. There will be a day when it will not work well but for now, we will enjoy the win,” revealed Kittel, adding that the disappointment of not been able to perform well last season has been erased a bit with this showing.
“As I said at the beginning that for me, everything starts at zero. I was really focused on good training and working with the guys for 2016. So it was an absolute delight to see it work so well on first day,” said Kittel, who will be donning the blue leader’s jersey and pocketed 10 bonus second for the win.
“We have to stay calm and see what happens in the coming days,” asserted Kittel, who will be hoping for a similar show in front of the stunning Jumeirah Atlantis on Thursday, where another bunch sprint is on cards.
