Kittel sprints to Adelaide victory

Marcel Kittel rounded off his preparations for the Tour Down Under by sprinting to victory in Sunday's People's Choice Classic. German Kittel, racing for Giant-Shimano, beat his compatriot Andre Greipel into second place with a superb display on the 50-kilometre city centre course in Adelaide. Lotto-Belisol's Greipel was gunning for his third consecutive People's Choice crown, but had to settle for the runner-up spot ahead of 19-year-old Australian Caleb Ewan. Greipel's team controlled the opening stages of the race, but a huge crash on lap six of 25 - which led to Movistar's Giovanni Visconti being taken to hospital in an ambulance - opened the field up. Axel Domont (Ag2r-La Mondiale), Luca Wackermann (Lampre-Merida), Anthony Roux (FDJ) and Nathan Haas (Garmin-Sharp) then established a leading group of four, before Lotto-Belisol fought back. However, Giant-Shimano provided Kittel with the perfect platform to snatch the win and deny Greipel his hat-trick of titles and fourth overall. Kittel felt everything fell into place perfectly for him to secure a morale-boosting win. He said: "We had a really, really good feeling for the whole train for the lead out at the end. It was a great team I thought and a perfect start to the new season. "It's always a bit of a waiting game and you need that little bit of luck to be in the perfect spot at the right moment. I think we did great work and in the end I was in the perfect position and could do my sprint." The first stage of the Tour Down Under in the Barossa Valley is in doubt due to bushfires and a decision on whether it goes ahead will be made on Monday.