Marcel Kittel got his second Tour of to a dream start as he won the first stage to Bastia and rode himself into thr race's first yellow jersey. However, the German does not rest on his laurels and he has his sights set on more stage wins as the peloton heads into the second week which has plenty of sprint stages on offer.

Marcel Kittel's two Tour participations could not have got off to more different starts. When he started his first ever Tour de France last year, stomach problems forced him to abandon stage 5 before he had even had the chance to show off his fast finishing speed. This year he powered clear of his rivals on the finishing straight in Bastia and took his maiden stage win and the first yellow jersey of this year's race.

The Corsican hills saw Kittel lose his coveted tunic on the first possible occasion but since then he has continued to target stage wins. He was in perfectly positioned on the last climb in stage 5 until a crash took him out of contention. The next day he bounced back from his bad luck with a powerful sprint that was enough to take 3rd behind Andre Greipel and Peter Sagan in Montpellier.

After Cannondale's masterpiece in the stage to Albi, it has all been about surviving the Pyrenees and Kittel has been extremely impressive on the tough slopes. Usually one of the very first riders to get dropped on the climbs, he surprised most by hanging on longer than both Greipel and Mark Cavendish and he even finished ahead of the last big group in the very tough stage on Sunday.

The German has now shifted from survival to winning mode as the race heads into the second week which should offer three, possibly four, sprint stages. Kittel is ready to add another stage win to his tally.

"My form is also good," he said. "Yesterday I felt really good in the mountains and survived those very easily. In the coming weeks we will have some chances, and if everything falls into place again we should be ready to rumble."

Argos-Shimano has a very scientific approach to sprinting and has put plenty of resources into the creation of its sprint train. The rest day was spent looking at its performances so far.

"I’ve really enjoyed sprinting on the highest level in this Tour," Kittel said. "We came to the Tour to win a stage, but now we are eager to win another. Today all our experts were also in the hotel and we had a meeting with them to analyze the sprints of the last week. We saw some improvements. "

"I feel good and am really looking forward to sprinting again. The hills and mountains are OK, but I came here to battle with the other sprinters and to show some speed, so it is nice that we can continue that again."

Kittel also took time to reflect on his short stint in the yellow jersey.

"Winning the first stage and wearing the yellow jersey was a very special moment," he said. "Everybody is right – it does feel different from any other jersey. You feel the history and magic of 100 years of cycling in the jersey. It was also quite special to get the jersey on the podium, but also the team presentation the next day, standing with my teammates who were all a huge part of this success, and then seeing the fans along the road cheering us on."

Kittel is expected to get his first chance to show off his speed in today's 10th stage in Bretagne which is very likely to end up in a bunch sprint. Starting at 14.00, you can follow all the action on CyclingQuotes.com/live.