 Dubai Tour - Cavendish wins final sprint [08-02-15 15:48 by staff GoNBike.com] | ||
MARK CAVENDISH IS THE 2015 DUBAI TOUR CHAMPION Manx Missile Wins Final Sprint. Podium - 1. Cavendish 2. Degenkolb 3. Lobato. Prizes awarded by H. H. Sheikh Mansour Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Dubai, 7 February 2015 – This afternoon, in the shadow of the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, Mark Cavendish (Etixx – Quick-Step) won stage four – The Burj Stage – of the 2015 Dubai Tour. Victory brought Cavendish the race leader’s Blue Jersey by a margin of six seconds over yesterday’s stage winner and the overnight Blue Jersey, John Degenkolb (Team Giant – Alpecin), who finished 9th today. Cavendish also secured victory in the overall points classification and received the final Red Jersey on the podium, by virtue of his wins in stages one and four and his second place in stage two. Elia Viviani (Team Sky) finished second in today’s stage, and in the overall points classification. Third today, for the second day in a row, was Juan José Lobato (Movistar Team). The result moved Lobato into third place overall, and he stood on the final podium with Cavendish and Degenkolb. In the intermediate sprints competition, Alessandro Bazzana (UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling), 20th today, successfully defended the UAE Flag Jersey, while Michael Valgren Andersen (Tinkoff Saxo), 30th, retained the White Jersey for the best rider born on or after 1 January 1990. JERSEYS BLUE JERSEY (SPONSORED BY THE COMMERCIAL BANK OF DUBAI) (overall race winner): Mark Cavendish (Etixx - Quick-Step) RED JERSEY (SPONSORED BY EMIRATES) (overall points classification winner): Mark Cavendish (Etixx - Quick-Step) UAE FLAG JERSEY (SPONSORED BY DUBAI SPORTS CHANNEL) (intermediate sprints classification winner): Alessandro Bazzana (UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling) WHITE JERSEY (SPONSORED BY THE RTA – THE ROADS AND TRANSPORT AUTHORITY) (best young rider, born on or after 1 Jan 1990, winner): Michael Valgren Andersen (Tinkoff Saxo). After the podium ceremony, today’s stage winner Mark Cavendish (Etixx-Quick Step), who is now the 2015 Dubai Tour champion, H.E. Saeed Hareb, Chairman of the Organising Committee of the Dubai Tour, and Lorenzo Giorgetti, CEO of RCS Sports and Events (U.A.E.) spoke to the press. 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.” The sprint: “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.” The trophy: “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.” Team performance: “It’s nice to win a GC, especially when not all the days were pan flat, you know? It was a smallish group yesterday. I worked hard over the winter, and it looks like we’ve gelled really well as a group, the lads who were here and also the group I had in Argentina as well. I’m super happy with my form and the form and commitment of Etixx - Quick-Step and I look forward to another successful year for us.” Globalisation: “I think globalisation of cycling is extremely important for the growth of the sport. It has to be done right though. Races like this in Dubai definitely do that right. There’s some races that didn’t quite work and it messed things up in the season, but definitely these short tours like this are growing and you can see from one year to the next it’s already stepped up a level. It’s definitely a move in the right direction in countries that cycling is actually becoming popular. It’s a big step forward, I think it’s what cycling needs.” H.E. Saeed Hareb, Chairman of the Organising Committee of the Dubai Tour: “Our challenge is to be one of the top races in the world. There is no end of possibilities and no end to the dream. If you can organise four stages, it’s not more difficult to organise more than 12 stages. We need to grow with what we have. We are not in a hurry, but we want to grow. Our dream is to be there. As regards how, where and when, I think that we need more experience and we need to give our people here time to be in a position where they are ready to take on 10 or 12 stages. [Q: Is it possible that this race could become part of the UCI World Tour? A: Why not? Yes.] Lorenzo Giorgetti, CEO, RCS Sports and Events (U.A.E.): “I think that we will know in 2017 what rules will set the new standards in UCI professional races. I know the UCI is talking to riders, teams and organisers but some of the criteria are already clear: they include rider safety, the quality of TV production, and the quality of hospitality. I think that Mark [Cavendish] can witness the level of investment made by the Dubai Sports Council, by booking this wonderful hotel, building an entire paddock and then engaging the fans and the general public.” ::RCS - Press Release:: | ||
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