Team Katusha: Kittel on Sanremo

Learning experience for Marcel Kittel in Milan Sanremo – Haas chases Nibali in vain on Poggio 

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Team Katusha: Kittel on Sanremo

For team leader Marcel Kittel, it was his first time to ride Milano-Sanremo. “It was definitely a very hard race” he explained. “I think the most important lesson that I learned today was even when you think you’ve eaten enough, you still need to eat more”.

“As we came into the final, I was completely empty. I had big problems as we came to the last climbs. It’s a hard reality. Also there was a lot of rain and cold conditions. I wanted to finish and I did finish, that was a goal.”

“I’m also thankful for the support of the team. I think it was an important experience for me in my career. I’m happy that I was here and happy that I finished. The time to evaluate future goals for this race will be in the later”, said Kittel.
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For Team Katusha Alpecin’s Nathan Haas, Milan SanRemo saw him vainly chasing evential winner Nibali with an effort well worth it for the Australian rider in the first monument of the 2018 cycling season.

“You snooze, you lose” Haas said afterwards. “I was going with the right guys over the top, for sure, Van Avermaet, Sagan…. I consider myself to be in that little bubble of guys. In the end, I think the headwind kind of screwed us a bit, we were going so hard over the top”, explained Nathan Haas.

“I actually had fantastic position. But then the headwind. No one had a teammate in that front group so it just kind of came back and we got swamped. Then I took Sagan’s wheel into the left corner at 800 but the corner came faster than I thought because I was so blinded by the sunshine. It felt like Tokyo Drift sideways. I was happy to hold it up in the end”, continued Haas. Nathan was 19th in the group sprint.

“I feel like the performance I put in today was easily a top result but in the end it came together for a sprint. I had a bad position or not the legs or both in the end,” laughed Nathan Haas. “We can be proud of our ride today as a team. It was important that Marcel come here today because I think on a different day, in a different situation, he can win this race.”

“It’s totally my job and one that I love to be the backup guy in a situation where it’s hard. At KATUSHA ALPECIN we can be really proud of how we rode and I think since the last few wins for the team we’ve been building a good ethos and been racing more like a family which is the objective of the team, said Nathan Haas.

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