Marcel Kittel was the big favourite to win the German road race championships and all day his Giant-Shimano team controlled the race. In the finale, however, the sprinter was taken out of contention by cramps but he is not worried by his poor performance in his final warm-up race for the Tour de France.

 

On Saturday, Marcel Kittel will try to win the opening stage of the Tour de France for the second year in a row but the German didn't get the perfect build-up for his biggest goal of the season. In last Sunday's German road race championships, cramps spelled an end for his hopes of conquering the German champion's jersey for the first time in his career.

 

All day his Giant-Shimano teammates controlled the race and as they headed onto the final lap and had brought back a dangerous move by Tony Martin, all was set for the expected bunch sprint. Suddenly, however, Kittel was dropped from the peloton, clearly suffering from cramps. Instead, his teammate John Degenkolb took over sprinting duties but was beaten into second by defending champion André Greipel.

 

Despite the failure, Kittel is not too worried.

 

"There's no drama. I simply had cramps," he told Radsport-News at the finish. "I already feel a lot better. It is certainly something that I have to be aware of but I am not worried.

 

"I had expected more on this course. Evidently, it was a hard race but we have all done a really good job. That makes it even more disappointing that things didn't go as planned in the end.

 

"I had already felt that I was getting tired. But earlier in the race, I had even been part of the attacks when it got hectic. I didn't attack myself but when Tony Martin went, I was in a group with Paul Martens. At that point, my legs were pretty good.

 

"Maybe I just need a bit of rest now. In any case, the final days before the Tour are not very important."

 

Kittel's sports director Rudi Kemna seemed to be more worried.

 

"It is a big surprise that he suffers from cramps in this race," he said. "That shouldn't happen as the weather was not extreme. But I don't know what the reason is. Maybe he should have been drinking and eating a bit more."

 

The first stage of the Tour is expected to end in a bunch sprint where Kittel is the big favourite to win.