A perfect leadout from Team Dimension Data delivered Mark Cavendish to victory on stage one of the Abu Dhabi Tour today.
The minor podium placings went to Andre Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) and Niccolo Bonifazio (Bahrain-Merida) respectively.
It was the first World Tour victory of the season for Cavendish and Team Dimension Data.
Team Dimension Data’s Mark Cavendish won stage one of the Abu Dhabi Tour today. Photo: Ansa/Peri/Bazza
When the early breakaway of the stage was reeled in with 15km to go, the respective sprint teams began to organise their sprint trains.
Team Dimension Data remained calm at the rear of the peloton, waiting for the right time to move up.
After Daniel Teklehaimanot did a mountain of work to bring back the early breakaway, it was Igor Anton that led the African Team to the head of affairs with just 10km to go.
It was a tough battle to stay organised at the front of the race as the wide road made it easy for teams to move up the sides of the peloton.
Johann van Zyl and Bernhard Eisel were going shoulder to shoulder with the other trains as Reinardt Janse van Rensburg, Mark Renshaw and Mark Cavendish stayed in the wheel.
It was extremely difficult to keep in formation but Eisel marshaled the troops well.
With 4km to go the Austrian powerhouse brought Janse van Rensburg, Renshaw and Cavendish back to the head of the race.
A strong pull by Eisel then had the finishing trio head into the all-important final left hand corner with 1km to go first.
In the corner there was a crash but as they were leading, Cavendish was unaffected.
The South African champion then turned on the power down the finishing straight before giving way to Renshaw, who began the kick for the line.
Bonifazio realised he was behind the 8-ball at this point and decided to go early from two places back, but all this did was provide Cavendish with the final slingshot to take the victory.
“The team was fantastic, really the lads did a phenomenal job today and I can’t fault anyone in the team. We knew that last corner was where it was going to count though and we had to get there first,” said Cavendish.
“I’m really happy with the win and the jersey obviously, this is a special race to me and its great motivation for the whole team.”
