Mark Cavendish said the psychological importance of landing his first victory of the season, and of triumphing over a stellar array of sprinters, paled into insignificance compared to the pride he took in the work of his teammates on the opening stage of the Abu Dhabi Tour.
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The Dimension Data sprinter picked up where he left off on Thursday, claiming his first win of the campaign at the same race where he took his last of 2016 – the Abu Dhabi Tour has moved from October to February – and on the same day of the month, no less.
And it was the corresponding stage of last year’s edition that served as a learning curve.
"Not particularly, I get more of a boost that my team did everything right," he said. "If I’d have lost today, I’d have had a lot of groveling to do."
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