5th, the “Kaiser” Marcel Kittel

We continue our top 10 of the best sprinters of the 21st century with Marcel Kittel, 5th. The German, known for his power, did not have a long career but managed, during this time, to dominate his opponents to join our ranking.

Between 2013 and 2017, Marcel Kittel was the King of sprinters. Except for his complicated year in 2015, due to injuries and illnesses which prevented him from participating in Grand Tours, the German outrageously dominated his opponents in the sprints, which earned him the nickname “Kaiser”. It was first with Team Argos/Giant, a team that could be compared to Alpecin today, which had two great sprinters, Kittel and Degenkolb, that he dominated the GT sprints. Kittel focused on the Grande Boucle and the Giro. In the space of four Tour de France, the former Quick Step sprinter has built up a very large track record with 14 stage victories. Four in 2013 and 2014 under the Team Argos/Giant jersey, one in 2016 and five in 2017 under the Quick Step jersey. Knowing that in 2016, he also participated in the Tour of Italy and won two stages in 8 days of racing. He will give up at the end of the first week.

The native of Arnstadt (Thuringia) won 13 times in the season in the sprint in 2014 and 2017 and 14 times in 2013. By far the most prolific sprinter over this period despite the presence of Greipel or Cavendish. In 2017, when he was the best sprinter in the world, he decided to leave Quick Step for Katusha. A catastrophic choice which will mark the end of his career. It is also at this period that the decline of any sprinter who leaves Patrick Lefevere's training will begin. Despite this, he has accumulated 85 career sprint victories, including 14 on the Tour, 7 on the Giro, 1 on the Vuelta and 21 World Tour stages. In classic, he has added to his prize list the Scheldeprijs five times. A classic very popular with sprinters.

In 2017, “Le Kaiser” completely dominated the sprints at the Tour de France. At that time, Greipel and Cavendish were present. Arnaud Démare was at his best, while we were beginning to discover Dylan Groenewegen. This should therefore give rise to great rivalries. It was nothing of the sort. Marcel Kittel destroyed his opponents with his five victories. Especially since he abandoned during the 17th stage and was therefore unable to compete in the sprint on the Champs-Elysées, which he would have won at 98%. He therefore only lost one sprint, during the 4th stage won by Arnaud Démare in Vittel, thanks to a fall which split the peloton in two in the final race. A duel that went wrong between Cavendish and Sagan, who will be disqualified. A fall which allowed the Frenchman to win.

As we said, between 2013 and 2017, Marcel Kittel was the best sprinter in the world. The problem is that before and after, nothing. Four seasons (without 2015) where he dominated big thighs before disappearing. The reason? A lousy transfer to Katusha which turned into a tragedy for him. A transfer reminiscent of that of Viviani then more recently Jakobsen to a lesser degree since the latter was already on the downward slope. Without the Quick Step train, the Kaiser is no longer himself. Unable to unleash all his power, which also seems to have disappeared. They also encountered difficulties placing themselves in the final stages of the races, which prevented them from participating in several mass sprints. Despite two victories over the Tirreno-Adriatico at the start of the 2018 season, his performance curve will only deteriorate. Finally, when he no longer had the same impact in his sprints, he decided in May 2019 to put his career on pause before retiring in August of the same year. He felt exhausted both mentally and physically, and wanted to spend more time with his family: “Suffering defines the sport and the world you live in. I lost all the motivation to torture myself on a bike. I had too little space for my family, my friends. On top of that, it “There was this constant fatigue and routine. I realized more and more that it was weighing on my quality of life.” he explained to Spiegel. The end of a short but intense reign.