Dubai Tour 2016 – Stage 4 [FULL STAGE]

February 6, 2016

Dubai Tour 2016 – Stage 4 – Dubai – Dubai : 132 km

The 2016 Dubai Tour route sees the race once again return to Hatta Dam, the location where John Degenkolb took a famous stage win on the 17 per cent climb to the line. The race kicks off with a 179km stage between Dubai and Fujairah. Marcel Kittel (Ettix QuickStep) is expected lead his new team in the race, making his debut after leaving Giant Shimano at the end of 2015. If he can find his form he should feature among the favourites for the opening leader’s jersey. Stage 2 will see the race head to Palm Jameirah, as it did in 2015, when Elia Vivianni won the stage. The next stage climbs to Hatta Dam before the final stage that takes place in the centre of Dubai.

Marcel Kittel (Etixx-QuickStep) sprinted to victory on the final stage of the Dubai Tour, outpacing Elia Viviani (Team Sky) and Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) to seal his second stage win of the four-day race. Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek-Segafredo), the race leader on the day, lost ground in the run-up to the sprint and found himself well back, leaving the door open for Kittel to cap his first race in Etixx-QuickStep colours with the general classification victory.

The German’s teammates hit the front going into the final kilometre of the stage, which finished in the shadow of the Burj Khalifa skyscraper, and he showed himself to be the strongest in the sprint. Viviani fought hard on Kittel’s wheel but was unable to come past, while Cavendish faded to finish a couple of bike lengths back in third.

Kittel wins the overall title by four seconds from Nizzolo, having started the day six seconds back before sweeping up the 10 bonus seconds on the finish line. Juan José Lobato (Movistar), who won stage 3 to the Hatta Dam, finished third overall at six seconds.

“I am really really happy – I was already dreaming about this moment yesterday, and I really wanted it,” said a jubilant Kittel.

“The team was fantastic in the final – we did an incredible job. When you look at the other teams they all came way too early, but we stayed calm and came in the right moment. It’s great to finish the Dubai Tour, my first race with Etixx, like this.

“My confidence is now probably 1000 times higher than a year ago. I am incredibly proud to start like this. I felt super when I came to Dubai and I think that’s the perfect base to start the new season.”

How it unfolded

The fourth and final stage of the 2016 Dubai Tour was started out as usual from the Dubai Maritime Club and took riders on a flat but sinuous city-centre route.

The breakaway, which would always have its work cut out given the parcours, formed early and was made up of Daniel Teklehaimanot (Dimension Data), Rui Costa, Jan Polanc (both Lampre-Merida), Sebastian Lander (ONE Pro), Roy Curvers (Giant-Alpecin), and Mark Christian (Team Wiggins).

With a bunch sprint pretty much inevitable, the escape group’s lead stayed at around the three-minute mark for much of the day, and former world champion Costa jumped away to take both intermediate sprints, the second of which came with 35km remaining.

Soon after, the peloton decided to step on the gas and reel them in, with Etixx, Astana, Trek-Segafredo, and Tinkoff all prominent. The bridge was made with 12km and Astana and Tinkoff were the teams setting the pace on the twisty roads.

Going into the crucial kilometres, Etixx-QuickStep took control for Kittel before Trek took it up under the flamme rouge. However, Nizzolo was not in tow and as his leadout men looked around to find him, Etixx once again hit the front, with Fabio Sabatini leading Kittel through a right-hander before pulling off and letting his teammate finish the job.

Results :
1 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Etixx – Quick-Step 2:50:47
2 Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky
3 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Dimension Data
4 Andrea Palini (Ita) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team – Al Ahli Club
5 Sacha Modolo (Ita) Lampre – Merida
6 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
7 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Etixx – Quick-Step
8 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo
9 Erik Baska (Svk) Tinkoff Team
10 Yanto Barker (GBr) ONE Pro Cycling
11 Chris Opie (GBr) ONE Pro Cycling
12 Koen De Kort (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin
13 Jonathan Dibben (GBr) Team Wiggins
14 Juan Jose Lobato Del Valle (Spa) Movistar Team
15 Silvan Dillier (Swi) BMC Racing Team
16 Ben Swift (GBr) Team Sky
17 Jasha Sütterlin (Ger) Movistar Team
18 Jesus Alberto Rubio (UAE) Al Nasr Pro Cycling Team-Dubai
19 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Tinkoff Team
20 Gorka Izaguirre Insausti (Spa) Movistar Team
21 Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Astana Pro Team
22 Martijn Verschoor (Ned) Team Novo Nordisk
23 Soufiane Haddi (Mar) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team – Al Ahli Club
24 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) BMC Racing Team
25 Boy Van Poppel (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
26 Roy Curvers (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin
27 Luca Wackermann (Ita) Al Nasr Pro Cycling Team-Dubai
28 Michael Gogl (Aut) Tinkoff Team
29 Charles Planet (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk
30 Tomas Vaitkus (Ltu) Al Nasr Pro Cycling Team-Dubai
31 Daniel Patten (GBr) Team Wiggins
32 Gatis Smukulis (Lat) Astana Pro Team
33 Davide Rebellin (Ita) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
34 Nikolas Maes (Bel) Etixx – Quick-Step
35 Nelson Oliveira (Por) Movistar Team
36 Jaber Almansoori (UAE) Al Nasr Pro Cycling Team-Dubai
37 Jan Polanc (Slo) Lampre – Merida
38 Joonas Henttala (Fin) Team Novo Nordisk
39 Simone Petilli (Ita) Lampre – Merida
40 Tomasz Kiendys (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
41 Yousif Mirza (UAE) Al Nasr Pro Cycling Team-Dubai
42 Andrew Fenn (GBr) Team Sky
43 Daniil Fominykh (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
44 Sindre Skjoestad Lunke (Nor) Team Giant-Alpecin
45 Simone Ponzi (Ita) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
46 Manuel Senni (Ita) BMC Racing Team
47 Tom Bohli (Swi) BMC Racing Team
48 Grzegorz Stepniak (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
49 Stephen Clancy (Irl) Team Novo Nordisk
50 Adrian Kurek (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
51 Rui Alberto Faria Da Costa (Por) Lampre – Merida
52 Carter Jones (USA) Team Giant-Alpecin
53 Andrea Guardini (Ita) Astana Pro Team
54 Bert De Backer (Bel) Team Giant-Alpecin
55 Loic Vliegen (Bel) BMC Racing Team
56 Essaid Abelouache (Mar) Al Nasr Pro Cycling Team-Dubai
57 Caleb Fairly (USA) Team Giant-Alpecin
58 Adil Jelloul (Mar) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team – Al Ahli Club
59 Kamberaj Xhuliano (Alb) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team – Al Ahli Club
60 Natnael Berhane (Eri) Dimension Data
61 Hayden Mccormick (NZl) ONE Pro Cycling
62 Valerio Conti (Ita) Lampre – Merida
63 Marcin Bialoblocki (Pol) ONE Pro Cycling
64 Peter Williams (GBr) ONE Pro Cycling
65 Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Spa) BMC Racing Team
66 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Dimension Data
67 Michal Golas (Pol) Team Sky
68 Ibrahim Al Ali (UAE) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team – Al Ahli Club
69 Amael Moinard (Fra) BMC Racing Team
70 Christopher Latham (GBr) Team Wiggins
71 Adrian Honkisz (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
72 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Movistar Team
73 Majid Albalushi (UAE) Al Nasr Pro Cycling Team-Dubai
74 Ben Hermans (Bel) BMC Racing Team
75 Ruslan Tleubayev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
76 Christian Knees (Ger) Team Sky
77 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Team Wiggins
78 Javier Megias Leal (Spa) Team Novo Nordisk
79 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Trek-Segafredo
80 Michal Kolar (Svk) Tinkoff Team
81 Juraj Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff Team
82 Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
83 Matt Brammeier (Irl) Dimension Data
84 David Lozano Riba (Spa) Team Novo Nordisk
85 Liam Holohan (GBr) Team Wiggins 0:00:23
86 Francisco Mancebo Perez (Spa) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team – Al Ahli Club
87 Ivan Santaromita (Swi) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team – Al Ahli Club
88 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:26
89 Stijn Devolder (Bel) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:29
90 Marco Coledan (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
91 Nick Dougall (RSA) Dimension Data
92 Andrea Peron (Ita) Team Novo Nordisk 0:00:31
93 Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team
94 Julien Vermote (Bel) Etixx – Quick-Step
95 Songezo Jim (RSA) Dimension Data
96 Lars Petter Nordhaug (Nor) Team Sky
97 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Etixx – Quick-Step
98 Iljo Keisse (Bel) Etixx – Quick-Step
99 Daniel Teklehaimanot (Eri) Dimension Data
100 Chun Kai Feng (Tpe) Lampre – Merida
101 Nick Dougall (RSA) Dimension Data
102 Mark Christian (GBr) Team Wiggins
103 Jaroslaw Marycz (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
104 Ahmed Almansouri (UAE) Al Nasr Pro Cycling Team-Dubai
105 Lieuwe Westra (Ned) Astana Pro Team
106 Matteo Bono (Ita) Lampre – Merida 0:00:39
107 Roberto Ferrari (Ita) Lampre – Merida
108 Lukasz Wisniowski (Pol) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:00:41
109 Nicolas Jonathan Castroviejo (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:43
110 Andrew Tennant (GBr) Team Wiggins 0:00:49
111 Manuele Boaro (Ita) Tinkoff Team
112 Tony Martin (Ger) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:00:54
113 Gianni Moscon (Ita) Team Sky 0:01:01
114 Grégory Rast (Swi) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:09
115 Sebastian Lander (Den) ONE Pro Cycling
116 Matthew Harley Goss (Aus) ONE Pro Cycling
117 Martin Mortensen (Den) ONE Pro Cycling
118 Lars Boom (Ned) Astana Pro Team
119 Tariq Obaid (UAE) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team – Al Ahli Club 0:01:41
120 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Movistar Team 0:02:19

Final General Classification :
1 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Etixx – Quick-Step 14:46:54
2 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:04
3 Juan Jose Lobato Del Valle (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:06
4 Silvan Dillier (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:00:16
5 Gorka Izaguirre Insausti (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:23
6 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) BMC Racing Team 0:00:25
7 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Trek-Segafredo
8 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Tinkoff Team 0:00:28
9 Davide Rebellin (Ita) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
10 Soufiane Haddi (Mar) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team – Al Ahli Club 0:00:29
11 Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky 0:00:32
12 Jesus Alberto Rubio (UAE) Al Nasr Pro Cycling Team-Dubai 0:00:33
13 Luca Wackermann (Ita) Al Nasr Pro Cycling Team-Dubai 0:00:35
14 Rui Alberto Faria Da Costa (Por) Lampre – Merida
15 Andrea Palini (Ita) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team – Al Ahli Club 0:00:41
16 Michael Gogl (Aut) Tinkoff Team 0:00:43
17 Koen De Kort (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:00:44
18 Ben Swift (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:48
19 Jan Polanc (Slo) Lampre – Merida 0:00:50
20 Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Astana Pro Team 0:00:53
21 Gatis Smukulis (Lat) Astana Pro Team
22 Roy Curvers (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:00:58
23 Manuel Senni (Ita) BMC Racing Team
24 Jasha Sütterlin (Ger) Movistar Team 0:00:59
25 Chris Opie (GBr) ONE Pro Cycling 0:01:00
26 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:01:03
27 Javier Megias Leal (Spa) Team Novo Nordisk 0:01:04
28 Simone Ponzi (Ita) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:01:05
29 Natnael Berhane (Eri) Dimension Data 0:01:09
30 Simone Petilli (Ita) Lampre – Merida 0:01:12
31 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Movistar Team 0:01:16
32 Daniil Fominykh (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
33 Christian Knees (Ger) Team Sky
34 Michal Kolar (Svk) Tinkoff Team 0:01:31
35 Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:33
36 Michal Golas (Pol) Team Sky 0:01:36
37 Lars Petter Nordhaug (Nor) Team Sky
38 Loic Vliegen (Bel) BMC Racing Team 0:01:41
39 Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Spa) BMC Racing Team
40 Tom Bohli (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:01:43
41 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:01:46
42 Ruslan Tleubayev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
43 Peter Williams (GBr) ONE Pro Cycling
44 Valerio Conti (Ita) Lampre – Merida
45 Manuele Boaro (Ita) Tinkoff Team 0:02:05
46 Lars Boom (Ned) Astana Pro Team 0:02:08
47 Boy Van Poppel (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:13
48 Adil Jelloul (Mar) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team – Al Ahli Club
49 Lieuwe Westra (Ned) Astana Pro Team 0:02:17
50 Nikolas Maes (Bel) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:02:18
51 Ivan Santaromita (Swi) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team – Al Ahli Club 0:02:28
52 Adrian Honkisz (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:02:34
53 Caleb Fairly (USA) Team Giant-Alpecin
54 Tomasz Kiendys (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:02:39
55 Yousif Mirza (UAE) Al Nasr Pro Cycling Team-Dubai
57 Bert De Backer (Bel) Team Giant-Alpecin
58 Marcin Bialoblocki (Pol) ONE Pro Cycling 0:02:47
59 Yanto Barker (GBr) ONE Pro Cycling 0:02:50
60 Charles Planet (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk 0:02:56
61 Sindre Skjoestad Lunke (Nor) Team Giant-Alpecin
62 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:57
63 Matteo Bono (Ita) Lampre – Merida 0:02:59
64 Juraj Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff Team 0:03:05
65 Jaroslaw Marycz (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:03:07
66 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Dimension Data 0:03:21
67 Nelson Oliveira (Por) Movistar Team 0:03:26
68 Sacha Modolo (Ita) Lampre – Merida 0:03:45
69 Ben Hermans (Bel) BMC Racing Team
70 Amael Moinard (Fra) BMC Racing Team
71 Tomas Vaitkus (Ltu) Al Nasr Pro Cycling Team-Dubai 0:03:46
72 Tony Martin (Ger) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:03:49
73 Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:03:56
74 Sebastian Lander (Den) ONE Pro Cycling 0:03:59
75 Roberto Ferrari (Ita) Lampre – Merida
76 Grzegorz Stepniak (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:04:14
77 Lukasz Wisniowski (Pol) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:04:17
78 Adrian Kurek (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:04:19
79 Jonathan Dibben (GBr) Team Wiggins 0:04:24
80 Daniel Patten (GBr) Team Wiggins 0:04:37
81 Mark Christian (GBr) Team Wiggins
82 Liam Holohan (GBr) Team Wiggins 0:05:14
83 Carter Jones (USA) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:05:19
84 Grégory Rast (Swi) Trek-Segafredo 0:05:20
85 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Dimension Data 0:05:21
86 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Trek-Segafredo 0:05:29
87 Andrea Guardini (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:05:36
88 Martijn Verschoor (Ned) Team Novo Nordisk 0:05:48
89 Stephen Clancy (Irl) Team Novo Nordisk 0:05:52
90 Erik Baska (Svk) Tinkoff Team 0:05:53
91 Hayden Mccormick (NZl) ONE Pro Cycling
92 David Lozano Riba (Spa) Team Novo Nordisk 0:05:55
93 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Movistar Team 0:05:56
94 Joonas Henttala (Fin) Team Novo Nordisk 0:06:00
95 Martin Mortensen (Den) ONE Pro Cycling 0:06:07
96 Andrea Peron (Ita) Team Novo Nordisk 0:06:12
97 Julien Vermote (Bel) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:06:27
98 Jaber Almansoori (UAE) Al Nasr Pro Cycling Team-Dubai 0:06:36
99 Stijn Devolder (Bel) Trek-Segafredo
100 Nick Dougall (RSA) Dimension Data 0:06:42
101 Nicolas Jonathan Castroviejo (Spa) Movistar Team 0:06:53
102 Daniel Teklehaimanot (Eri) Dimension Data 0:07:12
103 Matthew Harley Goss (Aus) ONE Pro Cycling 0:07:22
104 Essaid Abelouache (Mar) Al Nasr Pro Cycling Team-Dubai 0:08:08
105 Kamberaj Xhuliano (Alb) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team – Al Ahli Club 0:08:14
106 Ibrahim Al Ali (UAE) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team – Al Ahli Club 0:09:16
107 Marco Coledan (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:09:18
108 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Team Wiggins 0:09:19
109 Majid Albalushi (UAE) Al Nasr Pro Cycling Team-Dubai 0:09:42
110 Francisco Mancebo Perez (Spa) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team – Al Ahli Club 0:10:01
111 Chun Kai Feng (Tpe) Lampre – Merida 0:10:14
112 Ahmed Almansouri (UAE) Al Nasr Pro Cycling Team-Dubai 0:10:39
113 Matt Brammeier (Irl) Dimension Data 0:10:58
114 Gianni Moscon (Ita) Team Sky 0:12:29
115 Iljo Keisse (Bel) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:12:32
116 Nick Dougall (RSA) Dimension Data 0:12:43
117 Andrew Fenn (GBr) Team Sky 0:12:47
118 Songezo Jim (RSA) Dimension Data 0:13:49
119 Andrew Tennant (GBr) Team Wiggins 0:17:07
120 Tariq Obaid (UAE) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team – Al Ahli Club 0:19:17