Dubai Tour 2016: Kittel outsprints Cav in stage 1 to take GC lead

Dubai Tour 2016: Kittel outsprints ‘Cav’ in stage 1 to take GC lead

Stage 1 in the 2016 Dubai Tour is mostly played out on flat roads. A break of six is brought back with 11 kilometres left and the race explodes in a bunch sprint with Marcel Kittel in a class of his own. The German bests Mark Cavendish, thus taking the first leaders jersey in Dubai 2016. (Slideshow route/profile)

Results 1st stage Dubai Tour

1. Marcel Kittel (ger)
2. Mark Cavendish (gbr) s.t.
3. Giacomo Nizzolo (ita) s.t.
4. Sacha Modolo (ita) s.t.
5. Andrea Palini (ita) s.t.
6. Andrea Guardini (ita) s.t.
7. Chris Opie (gbr) s.t.
8. Elia Viviani (ita) z.t.
9. Michal Kolar (svk) s.t.
10. Tomas Vaitkus (lit) s.t.

GC after stage 1
1. Marcel Kittel (ger)
2. Mark Cavendish (gbr) + 0.04
3. Giacomo Nizzolo (ita) + 0.0.6
4. Sacha Modolo (ita) + 0.10
5. Andrea Palini (ita) s.t.
6. Andrea Guardini (ita) s.t.
7. Chris Opie (gbr) s.t.
8. Elia Viviani (ita) z.t.
9. Michal Kolar (svk) s.t.
10. Tomas Vaitkus (lit) s.t.

Race report
With temperatures at 18 degrees Celsius, the riders enjoy mostly tailwind. No wonder the speeds are high.

With around 35 kilometres done, Vliegen, Soler, Mortensen and Haddi escape, while Planet and Arribas bridge the gap. The six leaders race to a maximum advantage of over 4 minutes.

Haddi takes both intermediate sprints and shortly after the second one, with 11 km’s left, the breakaway is history.

With 4 km’s left Philippe Gilbert escapes, but a kilometre later he is brought back by the raging peloton. It all boils down to the anticipated bunch sprint, with Marcel Kittel taking the win by force. Mark Cavendish (and the other competition) is nowhere to be seen when the German powers to the win, saying: I’m back!