Dubai Tour (2016) Photos February 3 - 6

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Team Wiggins during a training session on the NAD Al Sheba Dubai cycle track	Bradley Wiggins and last year's overall winner, Mark Cavendish
	Bradley Wiggins: "Don’t expect too much from me! Unlike everyone else, I’m not hoping to achieve anything this week. The Dubai Tour is one of the four road races I’ll be doing this year. Just being here with my team pleases me, it’s nice to be racing with those young guys. If I can be next to them in sprint finishes, if I can contribute to their experience in a learning curve along with Team Sky and the other big teams, it’ll be great. Some of them are just 19 – Team Wiggins is moving along. There are a lot of British expatriates in Dubai who look forward to seeing us. Cycling changes all the time, it’s very different from ten years ago, now we are here in the UAE for racing. My goal is definitely more of nurturing for this week!"	Mark Cavendish: "I’ve raced in the Dubai Tour the last two years and I’ve enjoyed it, especially with winning it overall last year. I’ve come back with not much road racing under my belt, but I know from the track that my sprint is good. I’m here racing for Dimension Data with a very strong team on the road. I just like it here in the UAE – people are great and the race has everything I like. My daughter wants to be here too, she likes the towers!"
Marcel Kittel, Mark Cavendish and Bradley Wiggins during the pre-race photo-op
Opening ceremonies later in the evening	Stunt rider, Vittorio Brumotti doing his thing	Diego Maradona (R) shakes hands with Dubai Sport Council General Secretary, Saeed Hareb, during the Opening ceremony
Teams presentation with Team Wiggins	Mark Cavendish and his new team Dimension Data

Stage 1:  Dubai Marine Club → Fujairah, 179 km  Full Results and Report

Local performers and riders at the Stage 1 start at the Marine International Club in Dubai	Fabian Cancellara (Trek-Segafredo) signing in	Philippe Gilbert (BMC)
Mark Cavendish acknowledging the crowd during the Stage 1 sign in
Bradley Wiggins and Philippe Gilbert
Marcel Kittel		Fujairah Fort
	Marcel Kittel (Etixx Quick Step) wins the Stage 1 sprint finish in Fujairah ahead of 2nd Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) and 3rd Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek - Segafredo)
	Your stage 1 winner, Marcel Kittel (Etixx Quick Step)	and first race leader

Stage 2:  Dubai Marine Club → Palm Jumeirah, 188 km  Full Results and Report

Stage 1 winner, Marcel Kittel (EQS) signing in for Stage 2	Bradley Wiggins playing along during a selfie	Mark Cavendish congratulates Marcel Kittel for besting him on Stage 1
The roll out for the 183 km stage 2 from Dubai to Palm Jumeirah		Today's break
Mark Cavendish and the rest of the peloton		Marcin Bialoblocki (ONE Pro Cycling) the leading the break joined by Francisco Mancebo (Skydive Dubai), Silvan Dillier (BMC) and Koen de Kort (Giant-Alpecin)
The Italians avoided the crashes: Elia Viviani (Sky) wins a depleted sprint finish ahead of fellow Italians 2nd Sacha Modolo (Lampre - Merida), 3rd Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek-Segafredo) and 4th Andrea Guardini (Astana)		Finish perspective
	New race leader, Elia Viviani (Sky) in a virtual tie with Marcel Kittel
"Yesterday I opened my sprint too early and was left alone with no team-mate with 1km to go. I’m less fast than sprinters like Kittel and Cavendish, so to have a chance to beat them, I need everything to be perfect. We spoke about what went wrong last night and we rode perfectly as a team today. My lead out was excellent. Today’s stage was contested at a slower pace than yesterday’s and I was in an ideal position when the gap was closed onto the breakaway riders. This finale suits me. I won here last year as well. It’s beautiful to begin the year with a victory in Dubai."

Stage 3:  Dubai Marine Club → Hatta Dam, 172 km  Full Results and Report

Phillipe Gilbert signing in	Stage 2 winner and overall leader, Elia VIVIANI (SKY)	Fabian Cancellara signing in
Bradley Wiggins and Dubai skyscrapers	The rollout from Dubai
		Heading to the uphill finish
		Juan Jose LOBATO (MOVISTAR) makes his winning move on the Hatta Dam uphill finish
Juan Jose LOBATO (MOVISTAR) leaping into action	Juan Jose LOBATO (MOVISTAR) stretching out his lead as Giacomo NIZZOLO (TREK - SEGAFREDO) is the only other rider to try and chase him down	3rd Silvan DILLIER (BMC RACING) and 4th Fabian CANCELLARA (TREK - SEGAFREDO) +4s
Juan Jose LOBATO (MOVISTAR) wins Stage 3, 2s ahead of Giacomo NIZZOLO (TREK - SEGAFREDO) who takes over the race lead	Marcel KITTEL (ETIXX - QUICK STEP), left, finished 6th and is drop to 3rd overall, but he's just 6s off the lead. Another sprint win tomorrow and he could capture the overall win.	Your Stage 3 winner, Juan Jose LOBATO (MOVISTAR)
With consistently good results the first three days (3-3-2), Giacomo NIZZOLO (TREK - SEGAFREDO) is now the race leader by 2s heading into the final stage

Stage 4:  Dubai Marine Club → Business Bay, 137 km  Full Results and Report

Marcel Kittel signing	Race leader Giacomo NIZZOLO (TREK - SEGAFREDO) had a right to be worried about Marcel KITTEL (ETIXX - QUICK STEP) on the final stage	Stage 4 rollout
Marcel KITTEL (ETIXX - QUICK STEP) powers away during the sprint finish with only 2nd Elia VIVIANI (SKY) able to stay close	Marcel KITTEL (ETIXX - QUICK STEP) wins the final stage and thanks to the 10 bonus seconds, wins the overall
The GC podium: 3rd Juan Jose LOBATO (MOVISTAR) + 6s, 1st Marcel KITTEL (ETIXX - QUICK STEP) 14:46:54, 2nd NIZZOLO, Giacomo (TREK - SEGAFREDO) + 4s	No hard feeling between the overall winner and the leader before the final stage
		Marcel Kittel takes 2 stage wins and the overall in his first race for his new team, Etixx–Quick-Step
points winner	Best young rider, Soufiane Haddi of Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team
	Press conference comments from race winner Marcel Kittel (Etixx - Quick Step): "A new chapter opened in my life in 2016 with a change of team, and it’s been great to start this new chapter here. I’m super happy with the support I received. My teammates did a great job, while I had fun hugging Diego Maradona after I won! He really likes the race – he’s been here since the beginning of the Dubai Tour – and it’s great to see him enjoy the event. A GC victory rarely happens for a sprinter like me. I’m excited by this win but I have to keep calm; we’re still in February and the season lasts till October. The biggest challenges are still ahead."