Tour de Yorkshire 2019: Marcel Kittel confirmed to start as Chris Froome heads billing for Team Ineos

Marcel Kittel, one of the greatest sprinters of his generation, will make his debut at the Tour de Yorkshire for Team Katusha Alpecin on a bill headlined by Team Ineos’s Chris Froome.

Kittel, 30, had a mixed 2018 but has already claimed a victory in 2019 at Trofeo Palma and the ferociously competitive German is likely to be in the hunt for wins at the four-day stage race around Yorkshire, which begins on 2 May in Selby and culminates on 5 May in Leeds.

“It’s going to be nice to be back in Yorkshire because of all the memories I have from 2014 [Tour de France, which began in Leeds],” said Kittel. ”It’s a great experience to race there in front of all those spectators and I’m looking forward to it.”

Froome will front Team Ineos, which will begin its new iteration after a decade as Team Sky, while his team-mate and the reigning Tour de France champion Geraint Thomas will take on the Tour de Romandie, Switzerland.

Yorkshire’s own Lizzie Deignan will headline the Tour de Yorkshire Women’s Race, which takes place on the Friday and Saturday mornings ahead of the men’s second and third stages, along the same route.