TOUR interview: Marcel Kittel on his new role with Team Unibet Rose Rockets
Andreas Kublik
· 26.02.2026
About the person : Marcel Kittel
The Thuringian, born on 11 May 1988, comes from a cycling family in Arnstadt. His father Mathias was a member of the national team in the GDR era. His son Marcel showed his talent early on, celebrating success in the junior classes, particularly in individual time trials. He became world champion twice in the juniors (U19), European champion and third in the world championships in the up to 23 age group. With 14 stage wins in the Tour de France, Kittel is the most successful German. He was also successful as a stage hunter at the Giro d'Italia (4) and the Vuelta a Espana. He celebrated a total of 89 professional victories. In May 2019, he terminated his contract with Team Katjuscha-Alpecin. The following August, he declared his career as a cyclist over - at the age of 31. He had previously ridden for the Skil-Shimano (later renamed Argos and Giant) and Quick-Step teams. Kittel is married to the former Dutch national volleyball player Tess von Piekartz and lives with her and their three children in the Netherlands.
TOUR Marcel, would you have continued your career beyond 10 April 2019 if you had known that from July 2019, three Dutch YouTubers from "Tour de Tietema" would regularly hand out free pizza to all professional cyclists after the finish on the Champs-Élysées?
KITTEL Back then, it wasn't so much about wanting to, but rather about being able to. In 2019, I was really preoccupied with completely different topics, with myself. I was also aware of the Tietema boys, but pizza on the Champs-Élysées was one of my smallest problems in 2019. I was travelling somewhere else entirely.
Back then, you were on a journey to yourself, so to speak. You wrote a book about your career and your farewell with TOUR author Stephan Klemm (Title: "The feeling for the moment"). Take our readers with you for a moment: What exactly was going on?
In 2019, I was at a very crucial point in my career, personally at a very important point in my life, when I made the decision: Okay, I'm going to set other priorities in my life now, cycling is no longer my top priority.
What was the reason for you to break up?
One of the reasons was that I told myself that I just couldn't find what I needed to put into the sport. Another reason was that my wife (the former professional volleyball player Tess von Piekartz; editor's note) was pregnant with our son, our first child. And that led to me turning my life upside down in 2019, deciding to put my career as a professional cyclist on hold and focus on my personal, private matters.
Now you have come together professionally with the pizza connection around Bas Tietema after all. You will be working as a sprint coach for the professional team founded by the YouTubers from Tour de Tietema. How did that come about?
It started back in 2022 when Bas called me because they were looking for sports directors because they had set their minds on making a team somehow. But even then, it wasn't an issue at first. I was still fully in family mode and was in the process of doing other things after my career. I was super happy with it. And I cancelled in a friendly manner.
The three YouTubers want to get to the Tour de France pretty quickly with their team. A crazy idea that has never been seen before...
Of course, I was kind of surprised by the fact that these YouTubers suddenly wanted to make a team. I couldn't imagine that it would all work like that.
Have your concerns been allayed in the meantime?
In early summer (2025) we were in contact again and met up a few times and chatted a bit about the team. Then somehow one thing led to another. The Rose company, which joined as a sponsor, was of course also one of the reasons.
They work as testimonials, as advertising ambassadors, for the company from Bocholt...
This team actually brings together everything I've ever done in my life. So I thought: OK, this is actually the perfect fit. And I was really up for it. There was stability with the family, and I realised that working with young people in a team again in sport, building a team - I've always found that cool, I've always been good at it. And I would probably have blamed myself for years if I hadn't done it now.
You were considered a sensitive top athlete. How does that affect your new job?
It was a big step for me, I didn't want to take it lightly. But the training camp confirmed to me that the decision was the right one and that this is my thing: working with the racing drivers, with the whole team. This special atmosphere that the team has, that really comes out of the people. There is also a great awareness of how to deal with each other, of the team spirit, of this team building.
What exactly will your role as a sprint coach look like?
It's exactly what it says on the tin: Working with the sprinter himself, but also with those who are supposed to prepare the sprint in the lead-out. We have really great riders, from the experienced Dylan to young, talented riders like Tobias Müller. We want to get to the next level as a team.
Expertise from 14 stage wins at the Tour de France
Can you explain in a few words how to form a successful sprint train?
I asked myself the question: What does a sprint coach actually do? I then wrote a concept. First of all, it's about a clear structure within the team: from the racing drivers we need to the allocation of roles and goals. And it's about the way we want to implement this teamwork, which is necessary, such as communication. Now we have a common thread.
Is communication the key to success?
There is a lot of talk these days about working as a team. But that's only one side of the coin. You also have to feel the whole thing. And I believe that this feeling has often been neglected a little in recent years in the ultra-modern sport of cycling. You have to give these words real power by actually doing it, living it every day, spending time together, communicating honestly and preparing things well. That will be my focus.
You need time to form a sprint train
What experience do you have as a sprinter?
We have to give it time. My experience from my own career is that a successful sprint train is not built up in six months. It takes self-confidence and trust in the other riders. You don't just get that from the team within two training camps. You have to bring the right people together and develop a common mindset. If this common basis is not there, and that is also a lesson from my own career, then it is extremely difficult. You can't buy success, you have to build it together and that takes a lot: time, intuition, the right people with a similar mindset who have to want it.
The team has signed sprinter Dylan Groenewegen, a six-time Tour stage winner. What kind of guy is the 32-year-old Dutchman?
Dylan is a quiet, somewhat withdrawn guy. But when it comes down to it, he really is the leader. He makes very clear announcements. If it pisses for a whole day at the training camp, he's the first to get up and say: We're training. Of course, there's a lot of power in that kind of behaviour, it pulls the group along. We couldn't have hoped for more.
Groenewegen has not had any major successes recently...
The coaches have analysed his speed, it's still there. We have to concentrate on giving him the support he needs in the final. I have 100 per cent confidence that he is still one of the best sprinters in the world. We want to show that.
Sprinter Groenwegen as a key figure
Why is it a smart decision for an up-and-coming team to take the first steps towards the top of the world with a strong sprinter?
There is more than just one reason. It is of course a question of money if you want to build up team strength and achieve your first successes. It's best to concentrate on sprint qualities, on classic races and one-day races. Top results in the overall classification are extremely difficult to achieve. You need a completely different infrastructure and experience in the team. And many things depend on a successful sprint train, which also affect the strength of the team in the classics. You have to put a unit at the start that can fight through and believes in its plan.
What are the specific goals?
We want to build the most versatile sprint train in the world. There is a common thread in the sprint finals! And we want to keep trying to find this thread in order to reliably and consistently bring our sprinters, our leaders, to the front in the finals.
The team wanted to get a wildcard at a Grand Tour this year. That didn't work out at the Tour de France and Vuelta. But the Unibet Rose Rockets are taking part in the Giro d'Italia. However, you get the impression that times have become tougher for the sprinters and that sprint opportunities in the big stage races are becoming rarer ...
Yes, that's the case. The sprinters' chances are dwindling at the moment. I've also noticed that when you look at the points. For me, the whole points system is very skewed when it comes to sprinting, especially in the grand tours. The sprint discipline in cycling should continue to be valued alongside climbing and time trialling.
Andreas Kublik
Editor
