Dubai Tour: Mark Cavendish takes overall victory after sprinting to win over Elia Viviani on final stage
Last Updated: 07/02/15 12:49pm
Mark Cavendish claimed overall victory of the Dubai Tour after sprinting to a comfortable win on the fourth and final stage.
The Manxman started the day four seconds behind leader John Degenkolb, but with the German only managing to finish ninth and 10 bonus seconds going to the stage winner, Cavendish turned his deficit into a six-second triumph.
It was the third stage-race victory of his career, following successes at the Ster ZLM Toer in 2012 and the Tour of Qatar in 2013, and he has now won three sprints so far this season.
Team Sky’s Elia Viviani finished second on the day, just ahead of Movistar's Juan Jose Lobato, who also claimed third place in the general classification, 10 seconds down on Cavendish.
Cavendish said: "I'm over the moon. I had a bit of fire in my belly to get there today. I'm super-happy with how the lads rode all week, and to win here, it's pretty special.
Degenkolb no-show
"It wasn't just a pan-flat sprinters' race. We really had to work. I'm glad we could get the win."
Cavendish's Etixx - Quick-Step team controlled the peloton for much of the 128km final stage and he still had two team-mates in front of him as they led the field into the final 1km.
Degenkolb's Giant-Alpecin team failed to assemble their lead-out train and after Team Sky and Astana both became cut off from Cavendish and his final team-mate, Mark Renshaw, with around 600m to go, the result appeared a foregone conclusion.
Cavendish launched his sprint with around 250m remaining and although Viviani came back strongly, he never looked like snatching the win in the shadow of Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building.
Degenkolb, who had taken the race lead by winning stage three on Friday, finally showed himself in the closing metres but was too far back to threaten the dominant Cavendish.
Stage four result
1 Mark Cavendish (GB) Etixx - Quick-Step, 2:37:15
2 Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky, same time
3 Juan Jose Lobato (Esp) Movistar, st
4 Ben Swift (GB) Team Sky, st
5 Andrea Guardini (Ita) Astana, st
6 Daniele Ratto (Ita) UnitedHealthcare, st
7 Martijn Verschoor (Ned) Novo Nordisk, st
8 Davide Cimolai (Ita) Lampre-Merida, st
9 John Degenkolb (Ger) Giant-Alpecin, st
10 Andrea Palini (Ita) Skydive Dubai, st
Final general classification
1 Mark Cavendish (GB) Etixx - Quick-Step, 15:22:38
2 John Degenkolb (Ger) Giant-Alpecin, +6secs
3 Juan Jose Lobato (Esp) Movistar, +10
4 Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar, +12
5 Marco Canola (Ita) UnitedHealthcare, +14
6 Alessandro Bazzana (Ita) UnitedHealthcare, +17
7 Grega Bole (Slo) CCC Sprandi Polkowice, +18
8 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) BMC Racing, same time
9 Manuele Boaro (Ita) Tinkoff-Saxo, st
10 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Lampre-Merida, st
