MAKING THE WINNING MACHINE

Marcel Kittel tells Chris Marshall-Bell about the season that set him on the path to conquering cycling’s sprints

- Chris Marshall-Bell

Marcel Kittel has been pondering the question for a week. “How do you define your best year? Do you take victories as the most important factor?” It was what we assumed.

When Cycling Weekly and Kittel first exchanged messages, we had tentatively agreed to talk about his 2017 season, when he claimed five Tour de France victories to take his overall and ultimately final tally to 14.

A few days before we spoke, he messaged to say he was now thinking it was 2014, the first year in which one could indisputably claim that he was the sport’s fastest man, riding to 13 wins including four at the Tour and two at the Giro d’Italia. But when we begin what will prove to be a very enjoyable interview, he reveals an answer we aren’t expecting. “I’ve really thought a lot about this,” the German chuckles. “I think I take experiences as a professional as the mark to go by. So, if you take everything together in terms of experience, development and victories, my best year was 2011.”

What happened that year? His trademark blond hair cut shorter and aged 22, Kittel was a neo-pro with Skil-Shimano. Signed originally as a time triallist, he ended it as the sport’s emerging sprint sensation, clocking up a career record of 17 wins in one single campaign, five of which came in WorldTour races, including one in the Vuelta a España.

He summarises: “2011 had a big impact on my career. I made a huge transition from being a nobody to somebody who was a favourite in sprints. It defined my career; the development I made that year I used as a base for everything that happened afterwards. Without that year, I’d have left the sport much earlier.”