Marcel Kittel and John Degenkolb have criticized the Giant-Shimano management for their lack of influence on the roster for the Tour de France. The inclusion of Cheng Ji instead of Johannes Fröhlinger has raised eyebrows and the German team captains do nothing to hide that they would have preferred to have had their say.

Team Giant-Shimano has always looked like a very harmonious team without any internal conflicts but now team captains John Degenkolb and Marcel Kittel make it clear that they would have preferred a different selection process for the Tour de France. Going into the race as leaders of the squad, the pair would have preferred to have had an influence on the riders that will line up at their side in Leeds on Saturday, Radsport-News reports.

The inclusion of Cheng Ji created a lot of headlines in the German press as it came at the expense of trusted domestique Johannes Fröhlinger who was a surprise omission. Ji will be the first ever Chinese to line up in the Tour and his inclusion is widely tipped to have been prompted by main sponsor Giant whose headquarters are located in Taiwan.

"Regarding the Tour de France roster, I was not asked about my opinion," Kittel said at a press conference held at the German National Championships. "I will just leave it there."

"The team knows which riders we need for the sprints but in a professional team there are sometimes other priorities as well," he later added after having been quizzed on the subject.

Degenkolb vented his frustration more clearly.

"I would have preferred more influence," he said. "It would not have been bad if we had sat down together and talked about which riders should go. We were just told about the line-up. That wasn't optimal but in my opinion the team is not bad and no mistakes have been made."

Quizzed about Ji's inclusion, Kittel praised his teammate who has already done both the Giro and the Vuelta.

"He is a good rider and does his work, like chasing down breaks," he said. "He's good at that."

Giant-Shimano will go into the Tour de France looking for stage wins and will be mostly focused on the sprint stages.