Having raced the Tour Down Under, Marcel Kittel headed to the tour of Qatar looking to build form for the Tour de France and try and win some sprints. But he never performed at the race. He was later diagnosed with a virus that has led him to miss big races like Tirreno-Adriatico and Paris-Roubaix. The German hasn’t raced in two months and it isn’t known if he will make the Tour of Yorkshire, the next event he is provisionally due to ride, on May 1.
“May 1 in the Tour of Yorkshire? It’s very difficult to say when he can return,” team doctor, Anko Boelens told VeloNews.
“We want to have him fit again so it’s not going to be too hard on him when he’s racing again. We are constantly evaluating it."
“He’s trying to train as normal as possible, but the intensity is not what you’d expect from someone who is ready to race and to win.”
He is now free of the virus, but it is taking time for him to get up to speed in training and this is leaving him without the ability to ride at any race pace, rendering racing useless for now as he seeks to once again dominate the Tour de France sprints.
“The virus is gone. There’s no medicine you can take, the only cure is time,” added Boelens.
“He’s training and improving, but it’s a slow process. The virus wasn’t influenza or Epstein-Barr, but ever since then, he had to take a big step back. He’s improving, but it’s a slow process. We are not taking any risks.”
Yorkshire, the Tour of California and ZLM Toer are the last events he will ride ahead of the Tour and if he can’t get back to form for those, his big goal for the season may be thrown into doubt. However, he still has three months to get ready and get back to form and winning ways.
“He’s training but not on a program and he cannot do it every day,” explained sport director, Rudi Kemna.
“It’s a little bit up and down how he is feeling. He’s in training, but not what we would normally like, and he’s not ready for races. It’s a shit thing when you can’t do the training that you want.”
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