Dubai: Germany’s ace sprinter Marcel Kittel had to pull out something exceptional to clinch the third Dubai Tour title after starting six seconds behind Italian Giacomo Nizzolo in the 137km final stage on Saturday.
Kittel’s Etixx-Quick-Step teammates placed him well and he hit the front in the final kilometres - powering his way to victory in front of the tallest man-made structure Burj Khalifa. The victory also allowed Kittel to clinch the overall title by four seconds from Nizzolo as he pocketed 10 bonus seconds at the finish line. Juan José Lobato del Valle, who showed powerful legs to win the gruelling stage 3 to Hatta Dam, was six seconds behind and had to be content with the third overall.
Elia Viviani was at the wheel of Kittel in the final stretch but didn’t have the gas to overpower the latter and defending champion Mark Cavendish also had to be content with the third place.
“He (Kittel) was simply too powerful in the end. There was very little I could do,” said Viviani, who had earlier won the stage two for the second year in a row.
For defending champion Cavendish, this Tour has been a struggle and he will have to now search for his first win with Dimension Data at the Tour of Qatar starting Monday.
“We had the plan, it was to get on Kittel’s wheel in the last kilometre and then lay off. We knew the last corner was tight, so if we carry more speed and get a run-up I would be alright. In fact, I did the complete opposite,” said Cavendish, adding that, he ran right up with Viviani’s wheel.
“If you take a wide angle into it you carry the speed a lot more. Yeah, it was a tactical blunder. I came in really hot on it, had to lose too much speed. I couldn’t get it going – without big levers you can’t get it going again out of the corner. I just cooked myself on the acceleration out of the corner. There’s not much I could do. There’s no way, 150 to go.”
Cavendish, who has won the Tour of Qatar in 2013 with Quick-Step, was of the view that there were plenty of positives for him from this Tour to take to Qatar.
“I’ve just looked at my power; it’s the highest power I’ve had in the road sprint since before Sky, since 2011. I know that the form is pretty decent,” said Cavendish who too was of the view that Kittel was in a class of his own on this Tour.
“It just so happens I’m racing against, not really a standard rider, you know. Put Marcel Kittel on his own and he’s going to be difficult, but Marcel Kittel with a year’s holiday and a whole winter’s preparation, he’s very, very difficult to beat. Especially when I’ve been training for track.”
Daniel Teklehaimanot of Dimension Data, Rui Costa, Jan Polanc both belonging to Lampre-Merida, Sebastian Lander of ONE Pro, Roy Curvers Giant-Alpecin, and Mark Christian of Team Wiggins were the breakaways.
After 78km, Italian Costa took the first intermediate sprint honours as soon as the lead pack crossed into the Mamzar area near the Dubai coastline. At the 96km mark, Costa showed his prowess again with another brilliant burst and claimed the second intermediate sprint. However, Marclin Bialoblocki won on to the intermediate sprints’ jersey classification and held on to the UAE colours with the 15 points he accumulated from the three wins on stage two.
The biggest boost for UAE and Skydive Dubai was that their Moroccan recruit Soufiane Haddi held on to the White Jersey for the fourth day in a row. He stayed ahead of Costa by a mere four seconds and that would do a world of good to the youngster’s confidence and the sport of cycling in the UAE.
Results
Stage 4
1 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Etixx-Quick-Step 02:50:47
2 Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky
3 Mark Cavendish (Gbr) Dimension Data
4 Andrea Palini (Ita) Skydive Dubai
5 Sacha Modolo (Ita) Lampre-Merida
6 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
7 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Etixx-Quick-Step
8 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo
9 Erik Baska (Svk) Tinkoff
10 Yanto Barker (GBr) ONE Pro Cycling
Final
(General Classification)
1 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Etixx-Quick-Step 14:46:54
2 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 00:00:04
3 Juan José Lobato (Spa) Movistar 00:00:06
4 Silvan Dillier (Swi) BMC 00:00:16
5 Gorka Izaguirre (Spa) Movistar 00:00:23
6 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) BMC 00:00:25
7 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Trek-Segafredo s.t
8 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Tinkoff 00:00:28
9 Davide Rebellin (Ita) CCC Sprandi Polkowice s.t
10 Soufiane Haddi (Mar) Skydive Dubai 00:00:29
