Dubai: German rider Marcel Kittel has ruled out a trans-Atlantic trip for the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games.
Kittel has a solid start to 2016 while winning a couple of stages at the Dubai Tour to follow it up with wins in the Portuguese race Volta ao Algarve – and most recently last week the fourth stage at the Tour de France.
And when the 103rd edition of the Tour de France concludes at the Champs-Elysees in Paris on July 24, Kittel will be thinking of a trip back home for some rest instead of making the long journey to Copacabana for the road cycling on August 6-7.
“I had made this decision of not going to Rio a long, long time back,” Kittel told Gulf News from the team’s base in Bern on Tuesday.
“The Olympic schedule is very, very difficult and after going through nearly one month of the Tour de France it can have a telling effect especially when you consider that the course laid out at the Olympic Games is really not for the sprinters,” the 28-year-old German added.
At the end of 2012, the cycling world was affected by the Lance Armstrong doping case revelations, and Kittel was one of the most vocal of anti-doping crusaders, stating that he was “sick” of the people who were defending the fallen American in the cycling community.
The cycling competitions of the 2016 Rio Games will be held at four venues that will host 18 events between August 6 and 21.
