On the Eve of His Third Tour De France, the Explosive German
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048 049 INTERVIEW Animal magic On the eve of his third Tour de France, the explosive German fastman has come a long way from the sensitive, self-doubting under-23 that turned pro with Skil-Shimano in 2011. “Physically, he’s just an animal,” says former coach Merijn Zeeman Words Sophie Smith Photos Richard Baybutt, Graham Watson 050 INTERVIEW Marcel Kittel 051 arcel Kittel is showing Cycle Sport Drawing parallels with the game-changer Brabo, it’s an It’s an uncommon trait for a star competing in a demanding around his non-native Antwerp ad-hoc observation that insinuates the prolific sprinter, who sport where life can often be little more than cycling, and where we’ve come for an changed the status quo at the Tour de France last year, is transferring from one hotel to another with little awareness of interview and photo shoot. interested in more than just fast cars and bike races. Though, your surroundings is common. The chiselled German being German, he’s a Mercedes enthusiast. suggests going to look at a statue “Marcel is very smart,” says Giant-Shimano coach The man and the media away from the oddly bleak Rudi Kemna. Kittel uses a takeaway lid to scoop foam from a paper coffee surrounds of the grandiose central station, that is, as someone Kittel is, and not just by way of a killer instinct in furious cup as we speak in a hotel lobby the day after his historic toldM him, intrinsic to Antwerp’s origins. bunch sprints. He is eloquent in German and English, funny, Scheldeprijs treble. Ours is one of eight back-to-back feature “There were people coming to the city to trade here. I think diplomatic in front of the press, and savvy with social media interviews scheduled for that day and he sat for two the they had to pay a toll or something, and if they didn’t pay the — using it to portray a professional image as a driven sprinter, evening prior. Asking a question that hasn’t already been posed toll the giant would cut off their hand,” he tells us. “That’s why traveller, team-mate and eligible bachelor. to him is a bit of a challenge. it’s called Antwerpen because it comes from hand werpen, so The 26-year-old is a rare breed of sporting celebrity who “There are an increasing amount of people that want ‘throw your hand’.” makes a real distinction between his work and his private life. something from him,” says Kemna. “People request an The giant’s name was Antigoon and the Brabo Fountain In a post-race press conference at the Tour de France interview with him and it’s normal for him to say, ‘OK, when depicts the story, Kittel explains. Silvius Brabo refused to last year, a journalist asked if winning his third stage in a you want to do it?’ When he has enough time it’s no problem. pay Antigoon a toll, challenged him to a duel and won. straight-up sprint against Mark Cavendish was a highlight However, when 10 people want interviews on one day then The fountain depicts Brabo throwing Antigoon’s severed of his life. His response was to say it was a highlight of his life you have a problem. It’s this kind of thing that has changed Above His how he wanted it to. I really tried to teach him that if one hand into the Scheldt. as an athlete. over the past two years. swift rise to training session is bad it doesn’t mean that you’re immediately “But the person is the same,” he continues. “He’s still the star-status bad for the whole period.” same team member.” means Kittel is Kittel joined Skil-Shimano apparently already familiar Kittel has a respectful demeanour and when asked if he can in demand with an autocratic coaching regime, which had to be changed. change out of Giant-Shimano team kit to casual gear for the Left “He was coming from the German system of training and photo shoot he’s happy to oblige. Celebrating then also with the way of coaching,” Zeeman says. “My style is “You’ve a choice between white, white and white,” he says, winning stage to do things together and he was used to a trainer who was going to the luggage room of the team hotel to pull out a Hugo two of this above the group. It was very difficult for him to adapt to that Boss T-shirt and a new coat. year’s Giro new system. I tried to work on his personality because he was Kittel’s answers are considered and succinct but the d’Italia really used to that style. The person is more important than the quadruple Tour de France stage winner uncharacteristically sportsman I always say.” stumbles on a question, eventually asking a team press officer Kittel arrived as a decorated junior and under-23 European sitting nearby for help, when asked of his intentions to finish the and German national time triallist before the team discovered Giro d’Italia that is part of a more hardy race programme. and developed his aptitude as a sprinter. The world is at the feet of this newly established sprint king “We talked with some people around him and they said who’s yet to publicly profess that moniker. However, he’s not sometimes he can’t finish the whole season, but he’s talented freely giving away any information that may be of interest to and a good time trial rider,” recalls Kemna. the competition in his run to the 101st Tour de France. “Then I met him and went, ‘Woah! Time trial rider?’” Former coach and scout Merijn Zeeman recalls a sensitive Kittel’s tall and athletic frame made a real impact. and self-doubting under-23 that turned professional with “We started working with him and discovered that he was Skil-Shimano, an incarnation of Giant-Shimano, in 2011. really powerful and far more than a time trial rider. He did a “He was actually pretty insecure,” says Zeeman, now few sprints, then we started working on his technique. A sprint director at Belkin. “He got out of balance very quickly during isn’t only how quick you are in the last 200 metres — a lot of training when he wasn’t feeling good or when it wasn’t going things lead up to that. We started working with that. He made a lot of mistakes, but you could see he had something, the talent was there, and he won quickly.” Zeeman sees now a more rounded racer to the one he used to have daily telephone conversations with. Kittel is still “The world is at the feet of this sensitive and team-mates say he can be hard to keep at ease in a competitive environment, though no petulant tantrums newly established sprint king pepper his frequently more flamboyant victory salutes. “Sometimes I’ll throw a bike [up in the air],” Kittel says, who’s yet to publicly profess referring to that Tirreno-Adriatico crash reaction in which he was denied the season’s first chance to sprint against both that moniker” Cavendish and André Greipel. “There’s a defeat that I can handle, like when I wasn’t strong enough. If I wasn’t strong enough, then I didn’t 052 INTERVIEW Marcel Kittel Above deserve to win — someone else was better. and then it’s a question of how to handle it,” Zeeman says. Charging for “But then, there’s the real defeat when you make a mistake “I tried to teach him to find more balance in everything. the line and the or you didn’t give your best. That makes me very disappointed. When he had to stop the 2012 Tour de France because he was win at the 2014 I need time for myself. Sometimes I just ride away for 10 sick, that kind of thing has a big impact on him and I really tried GP Scheldeprijs minutes and sit and calm down.” to teach him to accept that there are always the next moments Zeeman provided Kittel with insights into how to handle to focus on, and that it doesn’t help you to be really negative. disappointments by focusing on the perception of problems “I sent him on holiday and said come back and we’ll restart. and uses a 2012 Tour de France debut as an example. Both he He came back at the Eneco Tour and won the first stage, but he and Kemna are sure Kittel could have been dominant there was absolutely not in a good condition. When he is there, even had it not been for illness and a knee problem that saw him when he’s on 80 or 90 per cent, he can win. abandon on stage five. “There was a big difference by the time I left the team in “It’s going really well for him, but there will also be 2012,” Zeeman continues. “He was a mature guy and he really moments in his career where maybe disappointment comes in knew what he wanted and how he wanted to work with the team and what he expected from them. When I see him now I think he’s secure and really appreciates his life. “His strength is that he enjoys what he’s doing and he’s open for feedback so you can really coach him — he listens to what “Zeeman provided Kittel with you have to say and he’s willing to give an insight to his feeling and thoughts.