We will glean lessons from this, says Marcel Kittel

dubai — Two-time winner Marcel Kittel said that the team was disappointed not to finish the Dubai Tour with a Stage win but added that they will glean lessons from this and come back stronger.

The Team Katusha Alpecin rider had eyed a hat-trick of titles but nothing went right for the German over the five Stages of the Tour.Kittel had an up and down week and finished 17th in the General Classification.

“Everyone in the team is really disappointed that we couldn’t go for a good result today (Saturday),” Kittel said after the Stage.

“I think the critical point was the last corner where the crash happened. Before that, we tried to come back together again. I think no team was really complete and that happened also to us and as soon as that corner came and the crash happened, everyone was messed up again.

“At the end, we really had to find a way to still make it in a good way to the finish line but that was very difficult. I tried to go as good as I can but Marco was already in front and was thinking that I wasn’t there anymore to maybe save a good result. In the end, it didn’t happen. Second place is not a bad result but we had victory on our mind today (Saturday),” he added.

Kittel said that they will surely learn from this experience. “It is moments to learn and also for us as a team to grow,” said Kittel.

Meanwhile, Kittel’s teammate Marco Haller finished second in the Meraas Stage, behind winner Elia Viviani.

Haller too echoed Kittel and said that the team wasn’t satisfied with how it played out. “I noticed the crash and I noticed the gap behind me but I already had to put in a good effort to move into the front. In the end, like Kittel said, we were here to win a Stage but it just didn’t happen so, we cannot really be satisfied,” said the Austrian.

james@khaleejtimes.com