Etixx-Quick Step directeur sportif Brian Holm will join forces with Marcel Kittel in 2016 and has confidence that the German rider will have a great season. The Dane expects that he will have an easier adaptation process that former team sprinter Mark Cavendish.

“With Cav, you really have to know him good to love him. Everybody loves Kittel, or Tom Boonen, or Tony Martin – that’s easy because they’re so [laid back]…but, with Cav, you have to take him because he starts to stress and sometimes you have the feeling you have to smash him before he shuts up", he told Cycling Weekly. "Sometimes you have to say, ‘Cav, shut the f*** up’…then he’ll come and say sorry."

"I hope [Rolf] Aldag [Dimension Data Performance Manager]," headded. "I think he can handle it. [Dimension Data] needed somebody like [Aldag] to survive.

"Marcel Kittel will settle faster in new team than Mark Cavendish".