After rumours emerged saying that Marcel Kittel may wish to terminate his contract with Giant-Alpecin after he failed to make their Tour de France team, the team has insisted the 27-year-old German will still be racing for them in 2016.

“For any rider, the ultimate aim is to be at the Tour. If he hadn’t been disappointed, I’d have been disappointed in him,” said team coach Christian Guiberteau.

“It was a painful decision, but the reality is he was ill, he took a long time to come back, and he’s disappointed, but that’s normal.”

“Of course Marcel [Kittel] will still be with us next year, everyone would like to have a great sprinter like him, but it’s true, it’s very difficult for him not to be at the Tour.”

“But from the team’s perspective, there are no doubts for the future.”

The team coach also says that with the course being so hard for sprinters, the team has a better chance of winning stages with several riders like Degenkolb and Barguil, rather than putting all of their eggs in the Kittel basket.

“With Marcel, believe me, it would have been very difficult to win four stages with the profile of the course. You can see the profiles exactly.”

“So with John [Degenkolb] in Le Havre there’s a difficult finish with a tough climb. It would have been tough for Marcel to arrive at the sprint so already, there are just two chances for Marcel: the second stage and the [final stage on the] Champs-Élysées. Maybe another, it depends on the circumstances of the race.”

“It’s not like last year and six sure chances [for a sprint finish].”