After his convincing victory in the sprint up the Straße des 17. Juli in Berlin, Marcel Kittel (Argos-Shimano) was happy enough, but he downplayed the importance of beating countryman André Greipel.

“I’m satisfied,” said Kittel to Radsport-News.com. “It was a good way for me to start again, after the altitude training camp in the Sierra Nevada, and I’m very, very happy that it worked out right away. Honestly, I had expected that I wouldn’t win, but maybe only reach the podium, or that something went completely wrong.”

“I have to praise my team: The guys got me into a good position and stayed cool. It was rather nervous, as some less experienced teams tried to get to the front, so we had to look out. But it all went well, and it was a nice showdown at the end.”

“I’ve been in the altitude training camp for three weeks now – I still rode my bike, mind you –, and now most of the training is done, now we’re going to race to get that race feeling back and let the sprint train come together. That’s what we’ll do in the next weeks, first at the Ster ZLM Tour, then at the German championships; and then we’re off to the Tour.”

Asked about the importance of having beaten André Greipel, Kittel smiled: “That’s more of a mind game, really. I think if I had been second today, I would have said ‘well, it’s at the Tour where it matters’; and in the end that’s the truth, that’s where we want to win. Nonetheless it’s superb to win here in Berlin, and I’m very proud to have a second trophy now. But I’m even prouder of the team, how they stayed calm and focused on the task at hand.”