Etixx Tour squad includes stage hunters for all terrains
Marcel Kittel, Tony Martin, Dan Martin, and Julian Alaphilippe give Etixx – Quick-Step plenty of options in the battle to win stages at the 2016 Tour
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PARIS (AFP) — German sprint king Marcel Kittel returns to the Tour de France next month with his new Etixx – Quick-Step team.
Kittel won four stages in each of the 2013 and 2014 editions but injury and illness ruled him out of last year’s race. He has since moved to Etixx from Giant, replacing the man another top sprinter in the process, Mark Cavendish (now with Dimension Data).
Etixx picked a Tour de France team with a view toward winning stages, and the result is a squad with the potential to contend on range of profiles. Beyond marquee sprinter Kittel, the team will field punchy climbers Dan Martin and Julian Alaphilippe, who can both deliver results on hilly or mountainous days.
Three-time world time trial champion Tony Martin will also make the start at Mont-Saint-Michel on July 2. The German is a five-time Tour de France stage winner, and two of those came on road stages — the TT specialist used his big engine to nab the mountainous ninth stage of the 2014 Tour and the cobbled fourth stage of the 2015 Tour.
Etixx – Quick-Step for the Tour de France
Julian Alaphilippe (FRA)
Iljo Keisse (BEL)
Marcel Kittel (GER)
Dan Martin (IRL)
Tony Martin (GER)
Maximiliano Richeze (ARG)
Fabio Sabatini (ITA)
Petr Vakoc (CZE)
Michel Vermote (BEL)
