Cavendish wins opening stage of Dubai Tour

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The margin may have been tighter than he would have liked but in sprinting the only arbiter is the final result and Mark Cavendish (Etixx-QuickStep) was ultimately well worth his victory on the opening stage of the Dubai Tour at Union House Flag.

Cavendish opened his sprint early in the finale – sooner, it seems, than he might otherwise have liked – but he managed to fend off a fierce comeback from the rapidly-closing Andrea Guardini (Astana) to claim the stage win and take possession of the overall lead.

After lead-out man Mark Renshaw deposited Cavendish at the front with a shade over 300 metres to go, the Manxman quickly put daylight between himself and his sprint rivals, and it seemed as if the honours had already been decided.

Guardini, however, ate up the ground in the final 150 metres and came within inches of overhauling Cavendish at the death. Indeed, even as Cavendish punched the air just past the finish line, Guardini raised a hand to suggest that those celebrations might just have been premature.

The photo finish image quickly confirmed that Cavendish’s first instincts had been correct, however, and he was able to celebrate his second victory of the new campaign. Guardini had to console himself with second place, while Elia Viviani (Sky) claimed third, just ahead of the surprising Alexander Porsev (Katusha).

Cavendish’s victory was no more, perhaps, than his Etixx-QuickStep team had deserved for their day’s work. Tony Martin had been already been quietly impressive in helping to ensure that early escapees were never allowed too much free rein, and he was then utterly dominant in the finale.

Martin’s surge to the front with five kilometres remaining heralded the formal beginning of Etixx-QuickStep’s lead-out effort, and the German carefully marshalled Cavendish through the sole technical difficulty in the run-in, the 180-degree turn with three kilometres to go.

Underneath the red kite, Martin cruised to the front once more, before yielding to Fabio Sabatini. The Italian spent less time in front than expected as Team Sky looked to move up in support of Viviani, but Mark Renshaw brought order to affairs 500 metres from home before Cavendish wound up for his seemingly interminable sprint.

“My sensations are good, I’m happy I was up there fighting,” Guardini said. “The aim was to start off strongly. Last year in Dubai, I fought for the win on the last stage. This year, I was up there on the first.”

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Etixx-QuickStep in control

After leaving Dubai International Boat Club, the early part of the stage was animated by a five-man breakaway featuring Enrico Battaglin (Bardiani), Rafael Valls (Lampre-Merida), Vladimir Gusev (Skydive Dubai), Nicolas Lefrançois (Novo Nordisk) and Alessandro Bazzana (UnitedHealthCare), who escaped inside the opening 10 kilometres and most of the rest of the afternoon dangling 90 seconds or so clear of the peloton.

There was scarcely a bump on the road all day – save for a treacherous traffic calming measure on the finishing circuit – and for the opening hours of racing, the peloton was happy to amble behind and allow the quintet a certain degree of liberty. That said, the black jerseys of Etixx-QuickStep – Martin and Carlos Verona, in particular – were careful to ensure the break’s margin never escalated and once Team Sky joined the chase with 25 kilometres remaining, they were quickly reeled in.

Sky had designs on the intermediate sprint with two laps of the finishing circuit remaining, and the break was caught brusquely with a shade under 20 kilometres left. A smart solo effort from Manuel Boaro (Tinkoff-Saxo) almost denied Sky the bonus on offer, however, but an impressive cameo from Geraint Thomas allowed Ben Swift to nip ahead and pick up the maximum three seconds.

Boaro’s brief sally, incidentally, was the last genuine attempt to break the shackles of the peloton. From there, the bunch sprint was a cast-iron certainty, with Movistar, Lampre, Astana and BMC all looking to shepherd their fast men into position on the final two laps of the 8.4km finishing circuit.

With two kilometres remaining, Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) put in a long, long turn on the front – as much to stay out of harm’s way as to help Guardini, perhaps – and though he melted back into the body of the peloton shortly afterwards, it was a heartening cameo from the Tour de France winner on his opening outing of the new year.

The day was all about the fast men in general, however, and Mark Cavendish in particular. The season is young and the sprints that will measure its success or otherwise are still weeks and months away, but two early wins mark an encouraging start the campaign for the 29-year-old.

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