Dubai Tour (2015) Photos Feb 4 - 7

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Stage 1:  Dubai → Dubai, 145 km  Full Results and Report

Rollout from Dubai for flat Stage 1
Sprint finish in full flight	Mark Cavendish wins Stage 1 ahead of Andrea Guardini (Astana) and Elia Viviani (Sky)
Finish line perspective
	Your Stage 1 winner, Mark Cavendish
And first race leader

Stage 2:  Dubai → Dubai, 187 km  Full Results and Report

Stage 2 rollout	Mark Cavendish enjoying his first day as race leader
Race organization	The next generation	Break forming
Getting ready to capture the sprint finish back in Dubai...	Sprint finish in full flight	Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky wins ahead of Stage 1 winner, Mark Cavendish
1st Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky 4:29:59, 2nd Mark Cavendish (GBr) Etixx - Quick-Step, 3rd Andrea Guardini (Ita) Astana Pro Team, 4th Alexander Porsev (Rus) Team Katusha	Viviani Post-Stage 2 “Yesterday we were third, and after the stage we watched the video a few times to understand what we did wrong. Today was a little better with Swift in the last 500m, and I think this is the result.”
Your Stage 2 winner, Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky and now 2nd on GC + 2s
Mark Cavendish slipping into the leader's jersey again	Race leader by 2s, Mark Cavendish	Viviani at the post-race press conference: “I’m happy with my first 5 years as a pro. If you look at the numbers, I’ve won 30 races, this is number 31. I’ve won a stage at the Dauphiné, I’ve had good results in the Giro d’Italia, and a stage win in Beijing. In the World Tour, I’ve always had good placings, and I’ve shown myself in the classics. What I lack is a really big win, although I’ve come close at the Giro d’Italia. This year is a key year for me. I need to go up a level, and I hope it happens this year, with my change of team, new surroundings, new motivation, and the help of the team.”
Mark Cavendish post-race press conference: “Today, to be fair, obviously I’d like to win, I’m disappointed with second, but I take a lot of positives form my sprint like the power I put out and how Etixx – Quick-Step rode, you know Etixx – Quick-Step rode really strong all day, it was windy, it was hard to stay up there. In the final, we got just caught on the wrong side, unfortunately. We lost the drag race into the final turn. The wind was coming in the final 3km from the sea, from the left, so you really wanted to be on the right, but we lost the drag race so we take the left hand side out of the corner. It just took its toll on me a little bit. The team managed to get to the front and take control, which is really positive, but I was just a little bit on the limit before I started my sprint. Still happy with power I made in the sprint, but I was just lacking a bit of zip. Guardini went. I knew he’d gone too early, but, just as luck would have it, Viviani was on his wheel and he could launch off him. I was able to come back at them it took me a while to get up to top speed today. But it’s OK. I’ve been beaten by Viviani before, and I’ll be beaten by him again, so I’m not disappointed.”

Stage 3:  Dubai → Hatta, 205 km  Full Results and Report

Morning sign in for Stage 3	The local United Arab Emirates team after losing three riders on Stage 2	Here's what the riders are fighting for
Race leader Mark Cavendish was pensive this morning before the uphill finish	The local media getting ready	Rollout
Dubai skyscrapers before the route outside the city
Break	Chase
		Feed zone
Camel photo op
	Movistar driving the pace
	The 17% kicker at the finish	Giant-Alpecin's John Degenkolb attacks on the climb
John Degenkolb holds on for the win by 2s over Valvarde before collapsing	Vincenzo Nibali wasn't a factor	No one expected a big man to be on podium at the end of today's stage
Your stage 3 winner, John Degenkolb (Giant-Alpecin)	Picturesque podium backdrop	New race leader, John Degenkolb, slipping into Blue. “We’re going to do everything to defend the jersey and bring the jersey home. It’s going to be not easy, but I think we have still a good chance to get some bonus seconds and probably do a good result at the end of the race. I think it’s not impossible. Like, it’s a little bit like in Dubai: nothing is impossible.”
Winning strategy: “The team supported me the whole day. I think we raced pretty smart, and in the end we had still enough guys to put me in the right position in the last 500m. I was lucky that I could go around Luka Mezgec. I think I started my sprint with less than 200m to go, but if it’s steep like this, then 150m are like 300 on the flat. I think it was good that I started that early because that also brought me the seconds for the General Classification now. To be honest I was expecting before the line, like, now they’re going to catch me just before the line, but I just didn’t look back, I did a full out sprint, and I’m pretty excited about the watts I generated.” [Q: Did you use the big ring? 53? A: Yes.]

Stage 4:  Dubai → Dubai, 123 km  Full Results and Report

Circuits in Dubai on the 4th and final day
		Mark Cavendish on the sprint finish: “I was waiting for someone, I thought someone would jump early, so I looked before I kicked off Renshaw’s wheel and we had a gap. It was a headwind so ideally I would have gone a bit later, but I saw we had a gap from Renshaw, and if I left it any longer maybe they’d get the run-up on me from the slipstream, so I had to go early to make sure I still had a gap so they couldn’t use me as a slingshot, and so I just had a look round to see if I’d held it all before the line.”
Mark Cavendish on the overall victory: “I’m super-happy, obviously. Obviously it’s nice to win, but winning isn’t new. What makes this super special is the fact that Etixx - Quick-Step just rode from the beginning of the race on Wednesday until the finish of the race here today. Our team wanted to control. We had no help but the majority was left to us and the lads rode out of their skin for four days. Yesterday it wasn’t necessarily for me, it wasn’t a stage that really suited me, but we honoured the jersey, we rode, and the lads stayed around me and delivered me as best as possible and more than I could have hoped for. They kept me within distance of winning this Dubai Tour overall. We wanted it back. The lads rode with fire in their eyes today. That was a phenomenal display the whole day, not just the lead-out. To be fair, I didn’t really do anything, so I’m incredibly grateful to the lads for this win. I think, yeah, they deserve this jersey more than me.”	Mark Cavendish: “I don’t have too many trophies out and about in my houses. I have photos of the family, more than anything. But this is a special one, it’s a beautiful trophy designed by Pininfarina, and it’s a special win. I don’t know. It’ll probably go… We have a little museum in Service Course [in Wevelgem]. I’ll give it to them because it was the team that won here, it wasn’t me.”