Last spring, Marcel Kittel ended his contract with Katusha and announced a break from pro cycling, but left the door open to return to the sport. This week, the German sprinter ended his career for good.
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Dear friends, fans and companions,I would like to tell you all today that I am ending my career as a pro cyclist.
I have thought long and hard about this decision and discussed it with my closest friends and my family.
This decision process has not been a quick one, but has taken place over a longer time: During my nearly 20 year sports career there have been not only incredible successes but also difficult times. I have always been one to openly question and reflect when such things happen, so that I can learn and become better. That, together with the people around me, has made me the successful athlete that I now am, but this method has also taught to leave my old ways and learn new ones. I know that there is much more than just sport, for example my own future family.
Recently the thought on this future without cycling has grown, as has the awareness of the sacrifices that such a beautiful but also very difficult sport like cycling brings with it. The biggest question of the last few months was: Can I and do I want to continue to make the sacrifices needed to be a world-class athlete? And my answer is: No, I do not want that any more, because I have always found the limitations on a top athlete as an increasing loss of quality of life. That is why I have a very happy and proud that at this point in my life I can make the decision to follow my heart in a new direction.
At this point I would like to thank all the people who have supported me in my career: my former teammates, my trainers, my friends, and my family, but above all my fans for the incredible support in the last few years.
I look forward to the future with much anticipation.
Yours,
Marcel
Marcel Kittel was one of the most affable characters in the peloton. His ‘gentle giant’ persona was perhaps the complete opposite of that of a pure sprinter. In line with that, it takes a big person to leave his sporting identity behind to concentrate on the selfless task of being a good father.
On that note, Kittel left us with some of the most thrilling moments in recent cycling history. We’ve put together a few of them.
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- Winning stage 7 of the 2011 Vuelta a Espana, his first Grand Tour stage win.
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- Kittel winning stage 3 of the 2011 Sun Tour (then held in October).
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- Kittel dashing his way to victory in the wet 2012 Scheldeprijs — the first of his five victories there.
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- Kittel winning the 2013 Scheldeprijs.
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- He then won the opening stage of the 2013 Tour de France, the first of his 14 victories at the race (so far).
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- That win gave Kittel a one-day stint in yellow.
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- Kittel ended up winning four stages at the 2013 Tour …
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- … including stage 12, just ahead of Mark Cavendish.
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- Before the 2013 Tour, Koen de Kort had been teasing his teammate Marcel Kittel about his haircut. But in a bet, de Kort said he would get his haircut the same way as Kittel if the latter won three stages at the Tour. With Kittel notching up his third win on stage 12 de Kort stayed true to his word, getting his hair cut on the second rest day.
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- Kittel won on the Champs-Elysees on the final stage, too, ending a four-year winning streak for Cavendish.
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- Kittel won three of four stages at the 2014 Dubai Tour.
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- He then went on to win stages 2 and 3 of the 2014 Giro d’Italia, in Ireland, and then abandoned the race due to illness.
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- Kittel after winning stage 3 of the Giro, with a fan.
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- Kittel won the opening stage of the 2014 Tour, too. Again he lasted just one day in yellow.
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- Kittel won four stages at the 2014 Tour as well.
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- Victory on the Champs-Elysees two years running.
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- Kittel after emptying himself in the Ster ZLM Toer prologue in 2015. Before he was a sprinter, Kittel was a gun time-trialist. He was third in the U23 time trial at the 2010 Road World in Geelong.
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- Marcel Kittel and Caleb Ewan share a laugh after finishing first and second on the opening stage of the 2015 Tour de Pologne.
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- After switching to Etixx-QuickStep in 2016, Kittel won his first race of the year — stage 1 of the Dubai Tour. He also won stage 4 …
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- … and the GC.
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- Kittel snagged stages 2 and 3 of the Giro in 2016, just as he did two years earlier.
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- His win on stage 3 put him into the maglia rosa for a day.
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- Kittel had a comparatively lean 2016 Tour de France as Mark Cavendish rode his way to four stage wins. Kittel did manage one victory though …
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- … and it meant a lot. It was close finish — it took race officials a few minutes to review the video footage and adjudge Kittel the winner of stage 4.
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- Image: Shane Stokes.
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- Another Dubai Tour, another great week for Kittel. The German won three of four stages in 2017 …
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- … plus the overall.
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- Kittel took his fifth Scheldeprijs win in 2017.
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- Also in 2017 he took his one and only stage win at the Tour of California.
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- He then went on to utterly dominate the 2017 Tour de France, winning five stages.
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- One of Kittel’s five victories at the 2017 Tour.
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- Kittel led the points classification for 12 stages that year. Sadly, he crashed on stage 17 and had to abandon the race. That hair though.
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- Kittel joined Katusha-Alpecin in 2018. It took until March at Tirreno-Adriatico for him to snag a win. His two wins there would be his only victories for the year.
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- Kittel’s next win came in February 2019 when he won the Trofeo Palma. It stands as his only victory for the year.
Please excuse the interruption.
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