Marcel Kittel has revealed that he will decide to ride the Tour de France after the Ster ZLM Toer. His season has been destroyed by a virus that has seen him take time off the bike and only win one race all year, his opening event of the season, the People’s Choice Classic.

Kitel is currently training with Giant-Alpecin teammates at an altitude camp in Sierra Nevada and he spoke about his year so far for 20 minutes with a group of journalists.

"It’s good to be here," he started. "This is the training I need. I’m the sort of rider that needs a good build-up before racing. So in the past 10 days I’ve done some endurance rides to get some base level and today I did some power training and uphill sprints to get some intensity in my legs."

After the Tour of Qatar, the German star found out he had a virus and he had to take lots of rest to recover. He tried to return at the Tour of Yorkshire, but that was one of the hardest events this year and he couldn’t finish stage one. Now he has finished the World Ports Classic and will continue his racing in Holland at the Ster ZLM Toer. He spoke a little bit more about the virus that may have cost him the biggest goal of his season.

"I couldn’t really influence the process of recovery," he explained. "The only advice I got was: 'Stay calm, don’t worry.' The only answer I had to that was…[Kittel shows his middle finger to the air, laughing]. "One goes: 'How should that help me?’ But in the end, after a few weeks, I realised that advice wasn’t bullshit but truth: only time could help me."

“It was a period of disappointment. I had a lot of time to think about a lot of things." He denied the rumors that hinted he suffered from depression in that span. "It is not that I fell in a very deep hole. I just stopped, looked back, looked to the front, and decided what I wanted and how I wanted to be. That has developed me [as a person]. I wouldn’t say this has been a bad year so far, because thinking all this through is very important for my career. It is not a victory in terms of racing, but it is a victory from a personal point of view."

Kittel points out that all of this hardly makes for ideal preparation for the Tour de France, especially when sprint rivals Mark Cavendish, Alexander Kristoff and Andre Greipel all appear to be winning for fun this year.

"This is not the perfect plan, not the one I wanted, but I can’t change the circumstances and I have to concentrate on doing my best. I’ll see where I stand in the Ster ZLM Toer. After that race, I will decide whether I go to the Tour de France or not. Of course, if I’m dropped every day, then it would make no sense to go to the Tour - but that’s not my expectation. I hope to do well and I feel I can be confident after this good training I’m having in Sierra Nevada."