Marcel Kittel may well end the season in the top three of most race victories after equalling Peter Sagan's score of 15 wins last Sunday at the Sparkassen Münsterland Giro in Germany. The Skil-Shimano sprinter got the better of his 2012 teammate John Degenkolb and is now only three victories behind Philippe Gilbert's phenomenal score of 18 wins this season.
Kittel enjoyed the victory even more as it was achieved on home soil. "It's a great feeling to win here in Germany," he told Radsportnews after the race. "The teamwork was perfect and the spectators were great, and I hope that I will be racing here again next year."
The neo pro, who has made an enormous impact in his first year amongst the professionals, again showed his fast finishing speed in the finale of the circuit event in Münster despite some last minute complications. "We were riding in the wind a bit too soon in the last lap, and I ended up with only one or two riders in front of me with 800 meters to go. But Roy Curvers had great intuition and moved me to the left into another train, where I had an excellent position for the sprint," the 23-year-old added.
Before taking a well-deserved vacation, Kittel is preparing to travel to Australia for the Jayco Herald Sun Tour, another first for him. "I think it will be a great race - not exactly a holiday, but after Evans' win at the Tour de France the country should be on a cycling high. I look forward to it, and if there is a sprint I hope I can be in the mix again."
Meanwhile, Sagan will be looking for more success in the Tour of Beijing and Gilbert will try to defend his Italian Classics titles at the Giro del Piemonte and Giro di Lombardia.
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