You guys might be right. After all he made a completely flat stage devoid of difficulties to Liege on a Sunday so a German could win.
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9th at the opening TT as well. Better than basically every GC contender or sprinter.
If it wasnt for Kung and Thomas, he would've taken yellow after the 2nd stage.
OneTrickPony who can't win without a train
If it wasnt for Kung and Thomas, he would've taken yellow after the 2nd stage.
OneTrickPony who can't win without a train
Why is Kittel not good at one day races? For someone of His physique and stature, He should be really good at them a la Tommeke or spartacus.
Re:
He probably could be pretty decent if he trained for them; but then he wouldn't be the fastest sprinter in the world. He'd probably end up the same speed as Degenkolb or Kristoff. And being the fast sprinter in the world gets you a much bigger contract than placing pretty high in a few classics.Eli said:
kittel is almost a track sprinter. he doesn't have any type of endurance. he can't even survive to cipressa, how the hell would he be able to contest paris roubaix or ronde?
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He’s a former junior world ITT champion, multiple u23 German ITT champion who made the u23 world ITT podium. He clearly did have some type of endurance before he abandoned endurance focused training for speed focused training. Of course you can’t assume that an excellent junior and espoir TTist will make an excellent classics rider, but they will probably be at least semi decent at it if they can learn to handle cobbles. Kittel however had more lucrative options available than being one of a large number of aspirant TT/classics guys, most of whom never get close to a big win.
portugal11 said:
He’s a former junior world ITT champion, multiple u23 German ITT champion who made the u23 world ITT podium. He clearly did have some type of endurance before he abandoned endurance focused training for speed focused training. Of course you can’t assume that an excellent junior and espoir TTist will make an excellent classics rider, but they will probably be at least semi decent at it if they can learn to handle cobbles. Kittel however had more lucrative options available than being one of a large number of aspirant TT/classics guys, most of whom never get close to a big win.
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When I say one day races, i'm sure you know it's the big Classics I was refering to.
rote_laterne said:
When I say one day races, i'm sure you know it's the big Classics I was refering to.
Re: Re:
Very good points made there especially the "Being the world's best sprinter gets you a bigger contract" bit. I just would like to see Him try the classics as I think He has it in Him to do well.
DFA123 said:
Very good points made there especially the "Being the world's best sprinter gets you a bigger contract" bit. I just would like to see Him try the classics as I think He has it in Him to do well.
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I read in a Shampoo magazine that it was not for certain but he might go in a support role for the experience.Nirvana said:
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No way he'll attack and solo to André Greipel (the sole survivor of the breakaway) only to be outsprinted by him at the end.
portugal11 said:
No way he'll attack and solo to André Greipel (the sole survivor of the breakaway) only to be outsprinted by him at the end.
Katusha DS Konyshev on Kittel: "We're paying him a lot but he's only interested in himself. Before the Cholet TTT, he played with his phone during the briefing to make me realise I didn't have his attention"
https://twitter.com/SophieSmith86/status/1018138216552173568
Marcel Kittel throws his bike at the Katusha-Alpecin bus, yells in frustration once inside.
Marcel Kittel throws his bike at the Katusha-Alpecin bus, yells in frustration once inside.
You have to question the ambition, if not the sanity, of any rider signing for Katusha. Sure, you get a pay rise, but the team has been an unmitigated disaster for over two years now. Looks like too many bad eggs, both racing and behind the scenes.
From an Équipe interview with Dimitri Konshev:
Then again, why signing for Katusha in the first place? Great team to earn money, bad team to win races. Kittel's choice.
Then again, why signing for Katusha in the first place? Great team to earn money, bad team to win races. Kittel's choice.
https://sporza.be/nl/2019/04/10/facebook-live-met-jurgen-vdb/
Jurgen van den Broeck questions Kittel's attitude/professionality and claims that Kittel drinks too much beer and wine. Hard to argue with that after another abysmal performance yesterday.
Will he ever come back to his former level? Somehow I doubt that very much.
Jurgen van den Broeck questions Kittel's attitude/professionality and claims that Kittel drinks too much beer and wine. Hard to argue with that after another abysmal performance yesterday.
Will he ever come back to his former level? Somehow I doubt that very much.
Bye Bye Bicycle said:
It's probably true but doesn't it seem a bit arbitrary that we get Van Den Broeck's take on this matter? Unless he is a pundit on Belgian TV of course.
He hasn't been teammates with Kittel.
Regardless of Kittel driving me nuts with his "by the way ..." TV ad all Summer long, I hope he returns to some decent form.
(edit - clarity & spelling!)
(edit - clarity & spelling!)
I can't really speak about the beer and wine but it clearly looks like he skips a few endurance training rides. Endurance was never great but it has been deteriorating in the last few years and without that he can't really apply his sprint unless tgere is a very slow race
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