Cycling: Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors) is understandably bitterly disappointed after his fall today and the following tour stop, but he is already positively looking forward again. His successor in the green jersey, Michael Matthews (Sunweb), offers consolation.
Less than 20 kilometers had been driven on today's difficult stage when the serious fall happened. At a bottleneck, a rider slipped and fell, knocking numerous others to the ground - including the man in the Maillot Vert, Marcel Kittel. In conversation with the portal sport.de he describes the situation: "I couldn't do anything, just fell and woke up on the street. I've scraped a lot of skin and my hip is swollen, but I don't think it's a serious injury." With a pained face, he got on a new bike after his fall, had to change a defective shoe and fought his way kilometer after kilometer towards the stage finish. But it wasn't enough. “It was down at the Croix de Fer. You just have to have power on the pedals on this mountain, and I didn't have that anymore. I realized it's hopeless. After consultation with the team, I then sent my colleagues Julien Vermote and Fabian Sabatini away so that they could at least stay within the time limit.”
The disappointment to be eliminated so close to the finish line in Paris is of course huge. "I don't even know how to describe my feelings right now. Coming home with five wins in your pocket is great, but to have to pull out so close to the finish in Paris because of a crash is just a huge disappointment.” Kittel is quoted as saying in a statement from the team. Despite everything, the 29-year-old is looking positively ahead again: “Now I'm taking my time to recover before I get back into racing. I'm sure that despite all the disappointment, the joy of winning five stages at this year's Tour will soon prevail."
Of course, the task of the strongest sprinter by far is also an issue in the peloton. His successor in the green jersey, Michael Matthews, said on Twitter: "It's never nice to take on a jersey like that. I hope Marcel Kittel is okay.”
Never nice to take a jersey like this hope @marcelkittel is ok, its been a nice 3 fighting it out. #creatingmemories @oakleybike @teamsunweb pic.twitter.com/xP2VAairal
— michael matthews (@blingmatthews) July 19, 2017
Emanuel Buchmann (BORA-hansgrohe) expressed himself soberly in the TV interview after crossing the finish line and probably spoke from the heart of cycling Germany and Marcel Kittel: “He almost certainly had the green jersey. Of course it sucks, what else can you say about it?”
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