Marcel Kittel (Giant-Shimano) failed to live up to expectations when a stage finally ended in a bunch sprint on the final day of the Tour Down Under. Having lost the wheel of teammate Koen De Kort, however, the German was unable to make an impact in the sprint and instead it was De Kort who sprinted to 4th.

Marcel Kittel got his season off to the best possible start when he narrowly beat big rival Andre Greipel (Lotto Belisol) to win the opening criterium, the People's Choice Classic, in Australia. When the actual WorldTour race, the Tour Down Under, started, however, the German failed to live up to the expectations created by his win.

On an unusually hard course in a race that was once known as a sprinters' affair, only one stage ended in a bunch sprint. As usual, the final criterium in Adelaide gave the fast riders a chance to show their cards and Kittel was eager to finally get in the mix after a week of suffering in the Adelaide Hills.

In the hectic finale, however, he lost the wheel of his trusted lead-out man Koen De Kort and as Kittel was unable to get back into position, it was De Kort who had to defend his team's new colours. He did well by sprinting to 4th behind stage winner Greipel but the team regretted the lost opportunity.

“As a team we win and lose together, unfortunately today we lost," Kittel said. Next time we will do it better.”

“The plan was to set Marcel up for the finish today but he got swamped towards the end and was unable to make up the ground," sports director Addy Engels said. "Koen did well to react and make the most of his good positioning to sprint to fourth place.”

De Kort described what had happened in the hectic finale.

"I am not sure what happened," he said. "I could not find Marcel Kittel in the end. "He was on my wheel, it was a very hectic course, tight corners, long straights. Somewhere in the last lap, Marcel must have lost my wheel.

"I told me teammates to go find him, while I stayed in the front (but) he never got there. At about 600m to go, I heard through the radio, Koen, just sprint yourself.

"I don't sprint enough. I choose the wrong side of the wheel, then I had to restart again. I came through fourth. I don't have the experience in sprinting these days. I don't tend to do that anymore."

Simon Geschke was the highest placed Team Giant-Shimano rider overall, in 24th. De Kort’s fourth place also sees Team Giant-Shimano take their first UCI WorldTour points of the 2014 season.