Abu Dhabi // It has been a successful and eventful start to the 2017 season for Marcel Kittel.
The German Quick-Step Floors rider, a nine-time stage winner at the Tour de France, was the star of the show at the Dubai Tour this month.
He comfortably retained the title he won in 2016 courtesy of three stage victories out of four, with one stage cancelled due to “dangerous” weather.
Kittel, 28, was also in the headlines for less savoury reasons when he was the victim of a punch to the face thrown by Astana Pro Team’s Andriy Grivko, who was subsequently disqualified from the race.
However, both the success and the scandal of Dubai are things of the past as Kittel prepares to make his mark this week at the Abu Dhabi Tour, the first since its upgrade to UCI World Tour status in September.
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“The important thing now is to really focus, not to say ‘OK, I’ve got some wins so it’s not important here’. Abu Dhabi is a goal to the rest of the season and I will give it my best,” Kittel said on Wednesday at Yas Marina Circuit ahead of today’s first stage, the 189-kilometre Emirates Motor Company Stage which starts and ends in Madinat Zayed.
Kittel will be up against some familiar faces from Dubai, including the two previous Abu Dhabi Tour green jersey winners Mark Cavendish and Elia Viviani.
Throw into the mix compatriot Andre Greipel, a winner of 20 Grand Tour stages, and Australian sensation Caleb Ewan, and the competition could not be more fierce.
“You saw the podium at the press conference. Everyone that was sitting there is a potential winner,” Kittel said.
“That is something I have to take into account. It will be close. Sometimes it comes down to how well you work together with your team. It’s hard to predict, of course.
“I think my form is good. I’m happy with the conditions. I saw after Dubai that my form was all right and I kept working on it afterwards so I can be satisfied.”
Of Kittel’s sprint rivals, Ewan appeared the least optimistic about his chances of securing the green jersey, awarded to the winner of the general points classification.
Ewan, 22, arrived in Abu Dhabi after securing the sprints title at the 2017 Tour Down Under in his native Australia. But despite his recent success, he is not convinced he will replicate those performances in the capital.
“To be honest I don’t think my form is as good as it was at Down Under,” he said. “After that, I had a week off and I’ve come straight here from an altitude training camp, so I’m not sure if my form will be great or not.”
Instead it was the two-time Dubai Tour champion that got the nod as the sprinter to beat this week.
“If I had to pick someone, I think Kittel is going the best,” Ewan said. “After watching him in Dubai, he was sprinting super quick, but it’s hard to tell when all these guys come together.
“If the smallest thing goes wrong it could cost you the race because these guys are at such a high level. I guess it depends who’s really up for it on the day.”
The general classification’s red jersey, awarded to the overall winner, will largely be decided on the outcome of Saturday’s climbing stage, the 186km Al Maryah Stage, when the likes of Nairo Quintana, Romain Bardet, Fabio Aru, Vincenzo Nibali and Alberto Contador come to the fore.
For Thursday and Friday, though, it is Kittel and his fellow sprinters who take centre stage.
“It was a great start in Dubai and I would like to continue that,” Kittel said. “But there are also many different circumstances. There are even more sprinters here, definitely all world class, and I will enjoy the challenge.”
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