Thursday 5 February 2015 16:45, UK
Mark Cavendish hung on to his lead of the Dubai Tour despite being beaten into second place by Team Sky’s Elia Viviani on stage two.
Cavendish was given a perfect lead-out by his Etixx – Quick-Step team-mates but had no answer to a superb burst of speed from Viviani.
It was the Italian’s first win for Team Sky since his move from Cannondale over the winter and gives the British squad early payback on their decision to invest in a sprint specialist for the 2015 season.
With bonus seconds taken into account, Cavendish retains the leader’s blue jersey but sees his advantage at the top of the general classification cut to two seconds by Viviani. Astana's Andrea Guardini was third on the day and drops to third overall, six seconds down.
Viviani, who had finished third on stage one and second at last week's Trofeo Satanyi in Mallorca, told teamsky.com: “After two podium finishes, I am really happy to take the victory today."
Cavendish said: "I'm disappointed with second, but I take a lot of positives from my sprint. I was just a little bit on the limit before I started my sprint. I was just lacking a bit of zip. It's OK. I have been beaten by Viviani before, and I'll be beaten by him again, so I'm not disappointed."
Stage two ended in the spectacular setting of Dubai’s famous Palm Jumeirah islands and Cavendish looked perfectly placed when he entered the final 1km with three team-mates in front of him at the head of the race.
He still looked favourite for victory going into the last 300m as he sat on lead-out man Mark Renshaw’s wheel, but then Guardini emerged from his slipstream to initiate the sprint finish.
Viviani and Cavendish both responded at the same time, but the Italian produced the more ferocious surge and won by the length of a bike.
Friday's 205km third stage finishes with a short and sharp climb at Hatta Dam and should be suited to punchy climbers such as Alejandro Valverde/
Stage two result
1 Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky, 4:29:59
2 Mark Cavendish (GB) Etixx – Quick-Step, same time
3 Andrea Guardini (Ita) Astana, st
4 Alexander Porsev (Rus) Katusha, st
5 Andrea Palini (Ita) Skydive Dubai, st
6 John Degenkolb (Ger) Giant-Alpecin, st
7 Daniele Ratto (Ita) UnitedHealthcare, st
8 Daniel Oss (Ita) BMC Racing, st
9 Michael Valgren (Den) Tinkoff-Saxo, st
10 Nicola Ruffoni (Ita) Bardiano-CSF, st
General classification
1 Mark Cavendish (GB) Etixx – Quick-Step
2 Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky, +2secs
3 Andrea Guardini (Ita) Astana, +6
4 Davide Frattini (Ita) UnitedHealthcare, +11
5 Ben Swift (GB) Team Sky, +13
6 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Bardiani-CSF, same time
7 Alessando Bazzana (Ita) UnitedHealthcare, st
8 Manuele Boaro (Ita) Tinkoff-Saxo, +14
9 Rafael Valls (Esp) Lampre-Merida, +15
10 Alexander Porsev (Rus) Katusha, +16
