It does not happen very often that a sprinter wins a stage race but yesterday saw one of the rare occasions when Marcel Kittel took his second win in the three-stage Tour de Picardie to bag the overall victory. Sprint wins are almost a daily occurrence for the fast German but he was very proud to also get the experience of standing atop the podium as the GC winner.

The Tour de Picardie is one of the few stage races that sprinters can realistically target. The ASO event takes place in an almost completely flat part of France and a winners list boasting the likes of John Degenkolb, Romain Fellu, Ben Swift, Sebastien Chavanel, Robert Hunter, Jimmy Casper, Janek Tombak and Tom Boonen in recent years is just a testament to the nature of the course.

Hence, it was only natural to give an in-form Marcel Kittel the role as race favourite when he lined up at the start line on Friday at the back of three stage wins in the Tour of Turkey. Once again the German sprint star and his formidable lead-out train did not disappoint and after taking the win on the opening day, his victory in yesterday's final stage was enough to land him the overall win.

The Argos-Shimano sprinter has racked up no less than 38 professional wins throughout his short career but never before has he won a big stage race. His win in the French event carried a special significance for the fast German.

“I am really happy to win the final stage, but even more happier to win the general classification today as well," he said. "For a sprinter it doesn’t happen that often, so that makes it very special and I am really proud of it and of the team who made it happen."

After his win on the opening day he was beaten by Bryan Coquard (Europcar) in Saturday's stage and had lost the overall lead on count-back. That made it easier for his Argos-Shimano team which did not have to take the early responsibility in the race.

“Today was a very good day – a good ‘late’ birthday present for me," he said. "We had a good position for this stage as Europcar had the leader and were forced to take control, so we could save some energy for the final. The last 40km was quite tough as there were some hills and a lot of attacks. Luckily the Team could help me to stay me out of the wind and counter the attacks."

He had been hampered by the loss of his usual lead-out man Tom Veelers who had crashed out of the race but an in-form Ramon Sinkeldam who just comes off the back of an overall 3rd place in the Four Days of Dunkirk stepped up to deliver his captain in a perfect position.

“We decided from the start that we would focus on the final sprint and not the intermediate one, so we decided to go all in," Kittel said. "After we had lost Tom Veelers due to a crash, it was up to Ramon to be my last lead-out man. He positioned me on the front to easily start sprinting with 200m to go. The lead-out went really well and just like Friday, you can see that everybody believes in our goal and stays cool which is what makes the difference and is the key to our success."

Kittel will now head to a training camp to prepare for his biggest target this season, the Tour de France, in which he hopes to take revenge for a huge disappointment last year where he had to leave the race early due to illness.

“Now I am on my way home, so I can spend a few days home, celebrating this victory, but also my birthday before I heading to a training camp to prepare for the next part of the season," he said.

Sports director Marc Reef was happy to see the team step up and take its responsibility in a stage that ended up as a tough affair.

“Today went very well and we didn’t have any problems during the race," he saud. "Straight from the start there was a small break which was caught leading to lots of attacks, but Will Clarke and Yan Dong Xing controlled the bunch and countered them all. The lead-out today went perfectly and Marcel won the sprint by two bike lengths ahead of second. It’s really good to see not only that Marcel is very strong but also Will and Yan showing that they are in great shape.”

The three wins in three days of racing now brings the Argos-Shimano total for the season up to 11 with John Degenkolb taking another recent triumph in the fifth stage of the Giro d'Italia.