Cycling: After retiring from the Tour de Yorkshire last week, German top sprinter Marcel Kittel has now also canceled the upcoming Tour of California. The 26-year-old is still dealing with the aftermath of a stubborn viral infection from February.
Marcel Kittel is just not in step this season. After everything started so promisingly with his victory in the prologue of the Tour Down Under, setback after setback followed. After the tour of Australia, he caught a virus that has now put him out of action for over two months. Although the Thuringian still took part in the Tour of Qatar in the belief that he had cured the virus, he felt during the week in the Arabian Gulf that he had intervened again too early.
As a result, he canceled all races, including Tirreno-Adriatico. The disappointment was of course great: “I felt good enough to start in Qatar, but after that I felt worse and worse every day. Together with the team, I have now decided to take a break." Kittel said in early March. It was planned that he should be ready for the Tour de Yorkshire at the latest. Although he started there last week, the next setback followed: after less than 100km, he had to realize during the first stage that it wasn't enough and got out. A few days before the race, he was still confident on his Facebook profile: “Finally I can be on the road again with my team and the boys. After the long absence due to the virus, I'm really happy to be able to do my first race here in Yorkshire since Qatar. Actually, I was already on the right track again, but two weeks ago it hit me again and I was flat with a fever. So I lost another week. But now I'm in good spirits again."
As his team has now announced in a press release, it has also been decided against Kittel starting in the Tour of California. The sprint ace doesn't hang his head and already has his next goals in mind: “After the Tour de Yorkshire we decided that I needed more time for training. I'm not in the shape I need for a prestigious race like the Tour of California. I will now continue to concentrate on training and have my sights firmly set on the next big goals.” Maybe it will work out before the start of the Tour de France on July 4th. Anyway, we keep our fingers crossed!