A few weeks after his win on the Champs-Elysees, Marcel Kittel returns to competition on Thursday when he lines up at the Arctic Race of Norway. There will be no pressure on the German's shoulders as his condition is a bit uncertain.

Marcel Kittel returns to racing after his successful Tour de France campaign in Norway this week with a view to get back up to speed and target the sprint opportunities in the race.

The race gets underway in the aptly named town of Hammerfest, with a relatively testing stage due to the hills that fall in the final 25km of the 204km stage.

This is followed by what should be a good opportunity for a sprint on day two before another uphill finish on day three. The race then concludes with a relatively straight forward 165km fourth and final stage that the team can focus on for another fast finish.

Kittel is joined by Albert Timmer who also returns to racing after a short break following the Tour de France. It is also stagiaire Fredrik Ludvigsson's first race with the WorldTour team.

"For the Arctic race we will focus on stage success and given that some of the riders are restarting after a break from racing we will look at it day-by-day," said Team Giant-Shimano coach Aike Visbeek (NED).

"Marcel will start here without any pressure and we will see how his shape is. There are maybe one or two chances here depending on how he is feeling.

"Then it is also Fredrik's first race with the pros - he is still suffering a bit with a problem with his leg so we will keep a close eye on how this develops. He will have a focus on learning how the team works and on gaining experience and hopefully he will be able to have a good race."

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Jonas Ahlstrand (SWE)
Johannes Fröhlinger (GER)
Thierry Hupond (FRA)
Marcel Kittel (GER)
Fredrik Ludvigsson (SWE)
Albert Timmer (NED)