cycling: Marcel Kittel wins the last stage and general classification of the Dubai Tour

Cycling: Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors) won the last stage of the Dubai Tour and with it the overall ranking of the Tour of the Desert. The 28-year-old confirmed his current impressive form and won the third of a total of four stages in Dubai. After his success last year, he also defends the title as overall winner. Elia Viviani (Sky) and Riccardo Minali (Astana) complete today's podium.

After yesterday's stage of the Dubai Tour was canceled due to strong winds, today's final was held on completely flat terrain, as on the previous days. The course of the race is therefore quickly told: At the beginning, a breakaway group formed again. The quartet was granted a long leash and only in the final third did the teams in the main draw pick up the pace. Not surprisingly, Quick-Step Floors, Dimension Data, Trek Segafredo and LottoNL-Jumbo gradually closed the gap for their captains. 10km before the finish line it was time and the field was together again.

With the 3km mark, the position battles began, where the Dimension Data team in particular did a very good job. Trek-Segafredo and Quick-Step Floors also got their sprinters in position. In Marcel Kittel's Belgian team, it was above all the tireless Bob Jungels who worked for his captain. At the beginning of the decisive sprint, Mark Cavendish was actually in the best position, but, like on the previous days, he was unable to turn his team's preliminary work into a success. Instead, it was again Kittel who had the best legs and in the end crossed the finish line in front of Elia Viviani. John Degenkolb didn't really get into the sprint, but with a fifth place he secured a place on the podium in the overall standings, which Kittel won like last year.

Marcel Kittel: "I'm very proud. When I came to Dubai I thought it was a nice race and I just wanted to see where I was. But then it worked really well and the team did a great job [...] We controlled the race very well today, even if it got tight at the end because my driver Fabio Sabatini's chain tore and jumped off. I am all the happier that it still worked out.”

Final Result Dubai Tour Stage #5

Appreciation Dubai Tour 2017