Kittel wins Dubai Tour opening stage

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Marcel Kittel (Etixx-QuickStep) won the opening stage of the Dubai Tour in Fujairah, beating Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) and Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek-Segafredo) after producing his trademark long, powerful sprint after a near perfect lead out from his new teammates.

Cavendish managed to come from behind and fight through the other riders to take Kittel’s wheel but was unable to come past him before the line. Sacha Modolo (Lampre-Merida) was fourth, Andrea Palini (Dubai SkyDive) was fifth and Andrea Guardini (Astana) sixth. Britain’s Chris Opie (One Pro Cycling) was also in the mix, finishing seventh, ahead of Elia Viviani (Team Sky).

Thanks to the time bonuses of 10, 6 and 4 seconds awarded at the finish, Kittel is the first overall leader of this year’s race and pulled on the race leader’s blue jersey.

The German held up his fist in celebration and hugged his new Etixx-QuickStep teammates. Winning on his season debut and on his debut with his new team confirmed he is on form and has worked hard during the winter after quitting Giant-Alpecin.

"Especially after a hard season last year I’m incredibly happy that I could win, but even more that it worked so well with the new team," said Kittel after crossing the line. "The boys did a really, really good job and everyone saw we were the strongest in the lead out. We talked a lot about it before so the fact it has gone so well on the first stage is incredible.

”This year for me everything starts again at zero. I was really focused on training, working with the guys, making plans for 2016. I’m feeling really good already so I’m happy it’s working well already."

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How it happened

Much of the stage took place on the wide highways that bypass the centre of Dubai and then head across the UAE towards Fujairah. The early attacks came thick and fast during the opening 30km as riders tried time and time again to get into the break. Philippe Gilbert (BMC) had two goes, perhaps in pursuit of the bonus seconds at the first intermediate sprint, but he was pulled back.

As the peloton tired of the early skirmishes, a small group of riders got away and they were later joined by two more to form the break of the day. Loic Vliegen (BMC), Martin Mortensen (One Pro Cycling), Charles Planet (Novo Nordisk), Marc Soler (Movistar), Soufiane Haddi (Skydive Dubai) and Jesus Alberto Rubio (Al Nasr Pro Cycling Team Dubai) were up there and shared the work on the long straight road going east.

Haddi won the first intermediate sprint and later swept up the second sprint to take the lead in the points competition.

Back in the peloton, the Etixx-QuickStep and Dimension Data teams accepted responsibility for the chase and took turns on the front, with Daniel Teklehaimanot doing a lot of the work for Dimension Data. The gap never grew much more than three minutes and fell as the riders rode the gradual climb with 40km to go. The gradient was gradual but hurt the legs a little, despite a tail wind.

The break was caught with 10km to go after fighting for the last intermediate sprint, as Team Wiggins moved to the front of the peloton. Bradley Wiggins lead his young teammates after spending much of the race out of danger at the back of the peloton. The other teams were happy to let the Wiggins take up the strain and they stayed on the front until a late attack by Philippe Gilbert (BMC) with three kilometres to go. He was quickly back and the sprint trains again took charge, with the white Trek-Segafredo jerseys hitting the front.

However, Etixx-QuickStep wanted to control the sprint and went shoulder to shoulder with Trek with a kilometre to go. The other sprinters had to fight for the best wheels behind them.

Matteo Trentin was Kittel’s last man. Kittel hit the front a little early but had the power to get a jump on his rivals and the speed to make it all the way to the line. Cavendish was equally fast - if not faster - but could not get up to Kittel before the finish line appeared. In the clash between Kittel and Cavendish, it is 1-0 for the German but the Brit must be happy to go so close after training on the track during the winter.

Thursday’s 183km second stage should end in another sprint, and another clash between Kittel and Cavendish, with the flat route finishing on the edge of the Jumeirah Palm. Winds are forecast, adding an extra factor to the thrill of the finish.

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