Cavendish wins final stage and overall at Dubai Tour

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Mark Cavendish (Etixx-QuickStep) continued his fine start to the 2015 season when he claimed overall victory at the Dubai Tour after winning the final stage of the race in the shadow of Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world.

The Manxman trailed John Degenkolb (Giant-Alpecin) by four seconds coming into Saturday’s stage but the ten-second time bonus for the win was enough to lift Cavendish above him in the final overall standings.

Cavendish was aided in no small part by a pitch-perfect lead-out from his Etixx-QuickStep team, who never left the head of the race from the moment Tony Martin took over with a shade over three kilometres remaining. Lukasz Wisniowski and Fabio Sabatini didn’t miss a beat when their turns came, and by the time Mark Renshaw hit the front inside the final 500 metres, he and Cavendish had a small gap over the rest of the peloton.

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Cavendish had little option but to open his effort early, and although Elia Viviani (Sky) and Juan José Lobato (Movistar) both closed considerably in the final 100 metres, the Briton had more than enough in hand to take the stage victory and overall honours.

The Etixx-QuickStep forcing in the finale seemed to catch out Degenkolb, who wasn’t able to manoeuvre himself into a workable position for the sprint finish. The German was never close to getting back on terms and had to settle for ninth place on the stage.

That result meant that he slipped to second overall, six seconds down on Cavendish, while Lobato claimed the third step on the final podium, a further four seconds back.

“I’m over the moon,” said Cavendish, who paid tribute to his Etixx-QuickStep team and had some thinly-veiled words of criticism for Team Sky and Movistar. “We’re the only team who rode all week, even yesterday when it was mainly to honour the jersey. I was a bit frustrated with the other teams who’ve come here and haven’t raced, so I had a bit of fire in my belly.”

Rapid

Saturday’s short, flat final stage was run off at a bracing pace from the off, and the average speed was a searing 47kph through the opening two hours of racing. A five-man break featuring Manuele Boaro (Tinkoff-Saxo), Daniel Oss (BMC), Marco Canola (UnitedHealthcare), Francisco Mancebo (Skydive Dubai), Maciej Paterski (CCC-Polsat) went clear early on and built up a maximum advantage of four minutes before Giant and Etixx began to set about pegging them back.

Cavendish’s surprisingly strong showing on the uphill finish on Friday afternoon had kept him within touching distance of Degenokolb’s overall lead but their teams were allies of circumstance for much of the afternoon.

“There were two riders from Giant and two from Etixx and then in the end a couple of other teams came to get their jerseys on television,” Cavendish said pointedly.

By the second intermediate sprint with 30 kilometres to go, the break’s lead had been slashed to just 40 seconds, although at that point, Boaro and Canola had each amassed enough bonus seconds to guarantee a place in the top ten overall.

Although the gap stayed consistent into the final 20 kilometres, Daniel Oss could sense that the break’s days were numbered and he attempted to forge clear alone in the finale. His solo effort petered out within a couple of kilometres, however, although he made one, last effort with Canola with six kilometres remaining, just as the peloton prepared to make the catch.

From there on, and despite some late pressing from Andy Fenn and Bernhard Eisel for Sky, the race belonged to Etixx-QuickStep with Tony Martin’s long, steady effort stretching the peloton taut and almost to breaking point.

By the time the Renshaw-Cavendish tandem clicked into gear they already had a head start on the rest of the sprinters, and despite Ben Swift’s best efforts on Viviani’s behalf, the final outcome was never in doubt.

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