Marcel Kittel’s season is very unnoticeable. But the Giant Alpecin rider hopes to be present at the next Tour de France. In order to be in good shape at the french three-week race, he will ride this week the World Ports Classic. Since this spring, he has been a non-starter in a number of races. His only win to date in 2015 came at the Peoples’ Choice Classic in Australia, back in January. 

According to Cyclingnews, Anko Boelens, the Giant-Alpecin’s physician, explained the reason of this below-average performance. "It’s good to clarify what has happened with Marcel and his health. I’ve read that he’s still suffering with a virus but that’s not the case."

"Let's start at the beginning when it was a really busy period for Marcel with training camps and the Tour Down Under. Then he went to Taiwan for meetings with Giant. Then he got sick and started to show flu like symptoms. He had a fever, he was coughing and his throat was hurting. He was sick for week and had it pretty bad." He added: "In Qatar he didn’t feel himself and that could have been two things, either he trained too hard or he wasn't not trained enough. In the beginning he felt he needed more training and rhythm but that only backfired and he became more tired. I don’t think it was a mistake that he rode Qatar. Of course with hindsight you can see how you might do things better."

But now, Boelens has given Kittel the green light to start racing again. "It’s no longer a medical problem, that’s gone. Now it’s about getting fit again," he said. "I still think that’s there a chance that he can be ready for the Tour de France but I’m an optimist, but that decision is down to the coaches and the trainers. I’ve given the green light that he can race again though."