Dubai Tour: Marcel Kittel wins final stage as Cavendish suffers mechanical

Marcel Kittel (QuickStep Floors) stamped his authority on the Dubai Tour by winning the final stage, his third of the race, and the overall title, on Saturday.

The German edged out Elia Viviani (Team Sky) and Riccardo Minali (Astana Pro Team) in the finale, with Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) suffering a mechanical in the sprint and fading to fourth. The British rider told reporters at the finish that his gears jumped just as he was launching his sprint.

Kittel’s early form has seen him win all but one stage of this year’s race and seal his second consecutive title in Dubai. Despite not featuring in the sprint finish, Dylan Groenewegen (Team LottoNl-Jumbo) did enough to secure second overall in the race.

"I'm extremely proud of what I achieved today: my second Dubai Tour overall in a row, my 75th career victory," Kittel said at the finish. 

"When I came back to Dubai, I thought this is a nice race, it's a goal for me, but I didn't think it would go so well. The team did a really god job. It's a very nice way to start the season. It was a short stage after the cancellation of stage 4 and we tried to control the race from the very beginning. The breakaway wasn't too big so it went very well for us. At the end, it didn't go exactly according to the plan because Fabio Sabatini's chain fell off. He was supposed to be my last lead out man, so I had to go by myself but at the end I was well positioned, so I could do my sprint as I wanted to."

Kittel was always the favourite to win the GC battle heading into the final flat stage of the race. Once again his QuickStep patrolled the front of the peloton after an early break of Floris Gerts (BMC), Ivan Garcia Cortina (Bahrain-Merida), Dimitry Gruzdev (Astana), and Matteo Bono (UAE -Abu Dhabi) moved clear.

The four riders built up a sizable lead but on the flat course, and with so many strong sprinters in the race, the break’s chances were always limited. Heading into the final 20 kilometres their advantages was culled to just over a minute with Dimension Data, Trek Segafredo and QuickStep Floors in control of the race.

When the catch was finally made with 9.9km to go it looked as though Dimension Data had control of affairs. Cavendish was neatly tucked into the tail of his leadout with Adam Blythe once again winning the battle for the British rider’s rear wheel.

Kittel’s train took a different approach. They posted two men on the front of the bunch to ensure the pace remained high but then brought Kittel into the frame with only 5 kilometres to go as Trek and LottoNL-Jumbo desperately looked to get back on terms.

The finish was peppered with two swinging right-hand turns and when Kittel lost leadout man Fabio Sabatini to a dropped chain it looked as though Cavendish had the advantage. However the Dimension Data train were a spent force as they headed into the final 500 meters, and although Mark Renshaw kept the pace high, Cavendish was forced to ease back and look for Kittel’s wheel.

He was successful but losing speed and then searching for it again proved somewhat costly. It briefly looked as though he would come around the German’s broad frame but when he sat down again with the line in sight Kittel could afford to raise his arms in victory. Viviani and the impressive Minali rounded out the top three but this was Kittel’s race almost from start to finish.

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