© A.S.O.Impressive in the finale of the second stage to Cerilly, Marcel Kittel was relieved to have made it at last after being held by a puncture in stage 1 in Nemours. He also paid homage to Nacer Bouhanni, forced out of the race by a crash.
Hard luck yesterday and better luck today…
Yesterday I felt really good. I really wanted to go for the win because the stage suited me. Today I was very focused again because it was one of the last chances if not the last chance to go for a real sprint. Now the pressure's gone.
Can you tell us about your sprint?
You have to ride a little bit with your eyes and be really late in the front. I saw that my boys were out a bit too early. I was looking for another wheel to take. In the 200 meters I decided that now I could go after the line of guys in front of me. I took the right side and it was just perfect.
How would you rate this victory in your career?
It's Paris-Nice. It's not only a World Tour race, it's a race with a very long tradition and a very long history. I was glad to give my team their first World Tour victory this year and I'm personally very happy to have won a stage.
A word about Nacer Bouhanni…
I actually saw him when he crashed. It looked really horrible because he was lying like this holding his mouth. It's a pity and I wish him all the best.
