Unibet Rose Rockets continue to make their big push towards the 2026 Tour de France wildcard. Its signed Tour de France stage winners in Dylan Groenewegen, Victor Lafay and Wout Poels; Its gotten a French nationality; and its increased its level significantly in riders and also staff. The team has now announced the signing of Marcel Kittel, 14-time winner at the Tour, as its new sprint coach.
The move on Kittel has built over several years now through the connection between Kittel and Tietema. Since his retirement in 2019 the German rider has remained active in the cycling world and has been an analyst for several channels and has been in the coverage of top races. The sprinting legend has never truly abandoned the sport and now comes back in a role that is becoming more and more popular. Earlier this week Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale announced the signing of Mark Renshaw as their sprint coach (after his stint with Mark Cavendish's Astana) and now Marcel Kittel does the same for Unibet Tietema Rockets.
But for the French team it is also a way to get a reputational boost and attach another big name to the team. However, it is a viable position taking into consideration the signing of Dylan Groenewegen, the team's big bet into 2026. Kittel has taken 89 pro wins throughout his career, and had a total of 14 stage wins packed in a mere four editions. In 2017, his last with Soudal - Quick-Step, he won five sprint stages.
He's also taken four sprint stages at the Giro d'Italia and won Scheldeprijs an impressive amount of five times. From 2007 to 2010 he raced in the German continental scene before he signed with Giant - Alpecin in 2011, which evolved into a World Tour team in 2013. In there and Quick-Step, he was for many years the top sprinter in the peloton and a good example of the 'pure sprinter' that is now less and less common in the modern peloton. His final season and a half with Katusha Alpecin did not hail great results and he announced his retirement in May 2019 at age 30.
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A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
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Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
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- JV is really slighting himself with not doing the 1 dayers.. 🤷
leedorney02-11-2026 - Watch the interview on youtube. I don't speak French. I do speak English and Spanish and you can hear it in his voice. Years ago LeMond had real personal problems I imagine in no small part because of Armstrong. then Armstrong goes round "full blast" re: LeMond having drinking and drug problems. The same way Andreu was expelled from mainstream cycling so was LeMond. On the positive side the clips of the ride and chatting with old teammates and was good. To seemed like a fun day and experience and good reason brush up his French.atom02-11-2026
- and another no-news article around the ‚2 tokyo jogging rounds‘ headline, this time spiced with some days old ‚news‘ that the LA and japan vacation trips come during or after the tdf route release. i am getting more and more annoyed by this time-stealing no-news crap. but who am i to complain? nobody forces me to come back for more ‚news‘ day after day …Ketterechts02-11-2026
- It would likely be a very steep section of 4.1 km, not changing the average gradient considerably, with the climb remaining 10.1 km at 11.8%. It would reach 20% on the gravel. It would start 1.6 km in, and finish with 4.2 km left to climb (before the short final descent)
Rafionain-Glas02-11-2026 - Welcome to the off-season.
santiagobenites02-11-2026 - guillaume martin in this list is quite a surprise as a gc rider.Ketterechts02-11-2026
- Who cares what Bruyneel thinks. He and his best mate Lance, the biggest fraud in the history of sport, have no place commenting on anything but how to lie and cheat!whit2pet02-11-2026
- Eeesh!Lozza02-11-2026
- bravo! a rider likes jonas needs motivation and he needs to believe in being able to reach goals. he - like anybody else in the world - doesn't believe that he can win the tdf with pogi present. and what's it worth for when pogi is not there? second class victory only. he has checked all three grand tours, so what is left if not retire? the classics! go for it, jonas!Ketterechts02-11-2026
- i am sure that under the pretext of medical examination a lot worse has happened when they were under.abstractengineer02-11-2026
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A BIG addition to our sprint train… 🚂 🚀 Marcel Kittel is a Rocketeer!
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