'A positive perfect storm' - Inside Marcel Kittel's first year at Unibet Rose Rockets

Just when Marcel Kittel thought he was out, cycling pulled him back in. He was only 31 years old and just two years removed from winning five stages of the Tour de France when he retired in 2019, but he resisted all overtures to return to the peloton in the years that followed.

Jumbo-Visma made a pitch for Kittel’s services even before he had formally confirmed his retirement, but he wasn’t for turning. It wasn’t so much that he had fallen out of love with the sport, it was that he had realised there was an awful lot more to life.

“Once I stopped, my feeling was that there was a whole world still to discover, from family to lots of other interests that I had and things that I wanted to do,” Kittel tells Domestique. “So suddenly cycling – or pro cycling, I should say – became very small and less relevant.”

That feeling persisted as the years went by. Kittel maintained a connection to cycling by serving as a brand ambassador for Rose Bikes and by making occasional appearances as a media pundit, but there was no nagging sense of unfinished business and no desire to step back onto the carousel.

At various points, Bas Tietema reached out to Kittel to link up with his team, which grew out of a YouTube channel to enter the peloton as Continental outfit TDT-Unibet Cycling in 2023. Even when the team stepped up to Pro Continental level as Unibet Tietema Rockets, Kittel was still resistant to the idea, but something shifted last autumn. 

“When you’re a bit more settled after your retirement, your connection with cycling gets stronger again. I guess a lot of ex-pro riders feel like this, and it wasn’t any different for me,” Kittel says. 

“Rose was also coming on board as a sponsor, and I think when I talked last year to the Rockets, it just came at the right moment. It was a positive perfect storm, where everything came together.”

Before announcing Kittel, Unibet Rose Rockets had already made a splash in the transfer market by signing Dylan Groenewegen, and it was clear that bunch sprints would be the team’s primary focus in 2026. 

Kittel was brought in as sprint coach and his role was initially sketched out as a largely consultative one, but once the season began, he quickly realised that it required a more sustained on-site presence. 

“When you look at the practical implementation of what we wanted to achieve in the sprints, it means you have to be there to develop a structure around the sprint. Instead of being theoretical, you need to be in the car,” Kittel says. 

“It was definitely more hands-on than we initially thought, but I’m not complaining about that, not at all, because the races are also where the magic happens and where the emotions run high. I really enjoyed it.”

Unibet Rose Rockets’ prodigious social media output has showcased the evolution of Kittel’s role over the season. At some races, like the Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen, the line between sprint coach and sports director is understandably blurred, with Kittel devising the strategy and delivering the briefing to the team.

It helps that Kittel has been there and done that, but he cannot rest on his palmarès to deliver his point, especially when the sport has moved on so much since he was vying with Mark Cavendish et al. 

“It’s definitely faster, I would say, because of gearing and aerodynamics,” he says. “And there are a lot of good sprinters out there now, so the overall level is higher. It means the margin for mistakes is almost not there anymore. One mistake in the last kilometre costs you the opportunity to go for a sprint and then all the five hours before are basically for nothing. That’s the main difference.”

Kittel’s role sees him work closely with the team’s sprinters, from Groenewegen to the emerging Tobias Müller. But consulting with the fast men is only a part of the story. Assembling the sprint train and finding ways to keep its moving parts working in harmony amid fraught finales is ultimately where a sprint coach earns his corn.

“What I would like to focus on is how we communicate as a team before, during and after the race, how we prepare our finals,” he says. “There is always a pretty detailed plan beforehand, but the reality is: how do we actually do it in the race? That also involves a certain vision, like how you want to work during a race and how you need to leave a certain amount of space for the unexpected things that happen in a race. 

“In 2026, we focused on making sure that we were there in the final, so we needed a good plan, good communication, but also flexibility. We want to build the most versatile sprint train, because that’s what you need in the final, and I think it was a good first step this year.”

Unibet Rose Rockets’ biggest stride in 2026 was making their Grand Tour debut at the Giro d’Italia, though they had started the season hoping to get the nod for the Tour de France itself. 

They were beaten to a wildcard by Caja Rural-Seguros RGA in late January, a decision that created mild surprise. 

The team studiously avoided stoking too much of a polemic over ASO’s call, despite a thinly veiled critique of Tietema’s modus operandi from Tour technical director Thierry Gouvenou. Kittel, for his part, saw the Giro as a most useful learning exercise for a team still finding its way and building its sprint train. 

“At the Giro, we had an opportunity, as a team and as an organisation, to learn what is involved,” Kittel says. “Even if we didn’t walk away with a victory, we showed our class, and I think we should be really happy and proud about that.” 

After finishing the season 22nd in the UCI rankings – up six spots from 2025 – Unibet Rose Rockets will have a stronger case for Tour selection in 2027, though the final decision will rest with ASO.

“I think it has always been the dream for us as a team to go to the Tour, but we are very aware that you’re not just given that place – you have to earn it,” Kittel says. “What does that mean for us, in 2026 and now in 2027? First of all, we are making sure that we take the next step again, that we work hard for the new season to be ready and then show our best side. I think that’s the most important thing, and that’s very logical.”

Out on the road, the high-water mark of the team’s season came at the Ronde van Brugge in March, when Groenewegen weighed in with their first WorldTour victory. The low point, at least from Kittel’s view, came in Naples on the Giro, when Groenewegen and lead-out man Elmar Reinders crashed on the rain-slicked cobbles on Piazza del Plebiscito just as stage victory looked within their grasp.

“I got a punch in my stomach when I saw them crashing there,” Kittel says. “In the emotional roller coaster of it all, that was where I would say where we were at the lowest point.”

The team’s calling card, of course, is that the highs, lows and everything in between are all documented and published on YouTube. The camera is always rolling, but Kittel soon grew accustomed to the reality TV aspect of his new job.

“I think it becomes very normal, I would say,” he says. “There’s always at least one camera around us, especially around the riders, so that’s just part of being with the Rockets. 

“But I also have to say that the media team that we have is really fantastic, so there is a lot of trust about what they share and what they don’t share, because sometimes there are very personal moments also happening during the race.”

In Kittel’s view, the camera is an opportunity rather than an obligation, a chance to lift the curtain and show the people behind the performance.

“We are a very serious and dedicated performance-focused team, but we are adding another perspective to it, so you see what is going on behind, you see the people involved, the characters, and I enjoy that,” Kittel says. “Our community gets to discover the Rockets, and they might see, for example, how Dylan gets third on a stage of the Giro, with the build-up, the preparation, and you can really live it with him. It’s a broader view on the team. Top sport is also entertainment, and people want to get that entertainment.”

As Kittel’s first season with Rockets came to an end, unflattering reports on one of his old teams hit the airwaves in the Netherlands. Last month, NOS Sport and In De Waaier alleged that there was a “culture of fear” at Picnic-PostNL after carrying out a joint investigation that involved interviewing 71 current and former employees. The team’s lack of flexibility was highlighted, with former coach Adriaan Helmantel claiming it “became a dictatorship.”

Kittel began his pro career with Iwan Spekenbrink’s team, then known as Skil-Shimano, in 2011, and he won stages in all three Grand Tours in their colours. He was on a steady upward trajectory until 2015, when he endured a year ravaged by illness and his working relationship with the team began to deteriorate. At season’s end, he extricated himself from his contract and moved to Quick-Step.

“After I retired, I wrote a book where I explained in detail how I felt about my years with the team,” Kittel says. “I really learned a lot, and I won a lot with the team, and I think we grew together, the team and I. Without that, I wouldn’t be where I am now, absolutely.

“But at the end, in 2015, I also personally struggled there. I had four years with great success and a fast-paced life and then in 2015, I sort of paid a price for it. I got sick and I couldn’t really get into shape, and I really struggled with it as a young person. 

“I was hoping for more support and talks with the team, but it wasn’t there, and because of that, I decided to leave the team and leave it behind me.” 

Kittel is at pains to stress, however, that his own experience with the team and his view on its way of working over a decade ago should not be conflated with some of the statements from riders who have spoken in recent weeks of mental health issues arising from their treatment at the team.

“When I was on the team, I guess it was a good example of how you can grow apart from each other sometimes and have different ideas about how you want to get to the goal. But I absolutely don’t want to compare that to the things that are said now about the team, because that’s something from years later, and that’s not my story,” says Kittel.

“I’m not happy that this is happening now, absolutely not, because in the end it’s a big organisation with lots of hardworking people. But you have to keep that feeling of being sad about what happened to the team separate from how certain riders or people on the team felt about their treatment, because that’s a very different topic. 

“I think it’s also very serious what was mentioned there, and I think it’s important to follow up on that.”

Kittel’s past as a rider informs his present as a coach. It’s easy to get lost in the weeds of scouting sprint finishes and researching wind conditions and assigning lead-out duties, but the most important quality he brings to the table at Rockets is his ability to communicate; that is, to listen and not just to lecture.

“There has to be two-way communication,” he says. “Many young athletes are just exactly that – they are young and they still have to learn. But you try to bring out that process in a positive way, not by telling them what to do but by really trying to make them reflect on how they could do it better. I hear some people saying, ‘Well, it’s professional sports and it’s always tough…’ Yes, it is tough, but I believe you can still do it in a respectful way and treat each other in a good way.”

When Kittel joined Rockets last winter, it wasn’t immediately clear if the role of sprint coach was a short-term gig or a long-term career. A year on, Kittel isn’t dwelling on the idea one way or another. 

“For now, I’m really enjoying it, and a year ago, I couldn’t imagine being in this position and place,” he laughs. “I do not have any very specific plans about how long I want to do it. I think the most important thing for me is that I have my focus or goal within the Rockets, a reason why I am doing it and a sense of what value I can add. 

“And as long as that is there, I’m happy to carry on. There’s not much more than that in terms of planning, but I think that’s totally right for now.”