Marcel Kittel (Etixx-Quick Step) capped off a fantastic weekend in the Netherlands by taking the victory on today’s stage of the Giro d’Italia from Nijmegen to Arnhem and moving into the race leader’s pink jersey.
It follows on from his top 5 in the Apeldoorn time trial and taking the win in the opening road stage on Saturday.
Unlike yesterday’s stage, the one on Sunday was more nervous, because of the narrow roads and the strong crosswinds, which at one point led to an important split in the pack.
Despite a gap that sat at half a minute, it was all back together for the final 50 kilometres, when the sprinters’ teams went after the day’s escape, which included Julen Amezqueta (Willier-Southeast), Giacomo Berlato (Nippo-Vini Fantini), Maarten Tjallingii (LottoNL-Jumbo) and Johan Van Zyl (Dimension Data).
From that group, Van Zyl gave it a go inside the final 12 kilometres and opened a substantial gap of one minute, which prompted an incredible response from Bob Jungels, as the Luxembourg champion took the front of the bunch and rode full gas to close that margin.
In the final two kilometres, Matteo Trentin and Fabio Sabatini led out Kittel, who nabbed another commanding victory, leaving everyone else behind with 200 metres to go, thus allowing himself enough time to celebrate win number 13 in Grand Tours and his first ever maglia rosa.
“Maybe today’s stage looked easy on the roadbook, but it wasn’t,” said Kittel immediately after the stage. “There were small roads and crosswinds, so the peloton was very nervous.”
“Everyone tried to stay in the best position and it was a real fight out there. Many teams were reluctant to help us, so we had to push hard in order to reel in the break, and this only shows how super strong we are.”
“The team was unbelievable, went full gas at the end to close the gap on the last rider in the breakaway, and I must thank them. I am very happy for the way things worked out today.”
Kittel is just the fifth German rider (and the first in ten years) to wear the pink jersey, also made an analysis of the opening week-end, while underlining the hard work of the Etixx – Quick-Step riders: “I started here with a focus on doing a good time trial and the result I got on Saturday gave me even more confidence for what was to follow.”
“I won both road stages, but I wouldn’t have done it without my teammates, who were fantastic in these past days; there really isn’t more that I could have asked them. It’s a real honour to wear the maglia rosa for the first time in my career, it’s a special feeling and I will enjoy every moment of having it.”
Without a doubt, the best sprinter in the 2016 Pro Peloton.