Team Dimension Data’s Mark Cavendish took second in the final stage of the 2017 Abu Dhabi Tour yesterday.
Caleb Ewan (Orica-Scott) sprinted to victory, while Andre Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) rounded out the podium. Rui Costa (UAE Abu Dhabi) won the race overall.
The stage was once again contested over 26 laps of the Yas Marina F1 circuit, which gave riders a total distance of 143km.
Six riders braved the water and broke away early on. The peloton was intent on keeping them close so that a sprint finish would decide the stage.
Team Dimension Data’s Mark Cavendish took second in the final stage of the 2017 Abu Dhabi Tour yesterday. Photo: Stiehl Photography
Some teams even had an eye on the intermediate sprints which offered up a few bonus seconds, and so before the final sprint prime at 25km to go, the race was all together.
For Team Dimension Data, it was the final sprint to decide the stage winner that was their main focus.
After losing Daniel Teklehaimanot after stage one, Igor Anton also had to abandon today meaning the team were slightly short staffed going into the final sprint.
The Yas Marina circuit has quite a technical finale with a number of chicanes in the final 3km.
The African Team found it difficult to link up initially but with 3km to go, Bernie Eisel, Reinardt Janse van Rensburg, Mark Renshaw and Cavendish were all together.
The sprint quartet was playing catch up to Orica-Scott just before the twists and turns began though, and it was always going to be hard to come by them before the last right-hander at 200m to go.
With Ewan in second through that last corner and Cavendish in fifth, it was always going to be Ewan despite the Manxman’s fast finish.
By placing second, Cavendish was able to ensure he won the sprinters green points jersey overall, thanks to his victory on stage one and third place on stage two.
