It was a very successful Dubai Tour this week for Marcel Kittel, as he won the race overall in addition to taking three of the four stages. His Quick Step Floors team mates provided him with a perfect lead-out on those stages ensuring that the German won the race for the second year in a row.
The last stage of the race was also the shortest at 124 kilometres and got off to a flying start, with speeds of over 50 km/h, as several riders tried to jump clear and make it into the break.
It took over forty kilometres of breakaway attempts but eventually, Matteo Bono (UAE Abu Dhabi), Ivan Cortina (Bahrain-Merida), Floris Gerts (BMC) and Dmitry Gruzdev (Astana) got the green light and made it into the break, but Julian Alaphilippe and Bob Jungels led a steady chase behind them, dragging the field on the flat roads to Dubai City Walk, and kept the gap under two minutes all the time.
With 10 kilometres left, it was all back together as the sprinters’ teams began jostling for position. Quick-Step Floors took over the front and upped the pace as more and more lead-out trains began to form. Once again, Fabio Sabatini slotted into his role as Marcel Kittel’s final man, but a chain problem for the Italian meant that the German was on his own going into a tight right-hand bend with 400 meters left.
This didn’t stop Kittel who started his sprint on the outside, getting the better of Elia Viviani (Team Sky) and Riccardo Minali (Astana) for his third stage win this week. It was his eighth career victory at the Dubai Tour, one which sealed the general classification, where Kittel finished ahead of Dylan Groenewegen (Lotto-NL-Jumbo) and John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo).
“Today was a short and fast stage. We tried to control it from the very beginning and we did as planned thanks to a superb team effort, so hats off to the guys for their work. In the final kilometre, Fabio’s chain fell off, but fortunately I was well-positioned in the pack and notched up the victory to cap off a fantastic week for us, in a race which we enjoyed a lot”, said the 28-year-old sprinter.
