Mark Cavendish's Dubai Tour ended in frustration after he was delayed by Nacer Bouhanni's crash in the final corner of stage 5, but the Dimension Data sprinter travels to Oman for the second round of his early-season block of racing armed with the knowledge that he is laying solid foundations for the season ahead.
After landing victory on stage 3 of the Dubai Tour, Cavendish was looking to claim his second victory of the season on Saturday, but he was held up by the crash in the final kilometre. Although he managed to avoid falling, Cavendish was forced to slam on the brakes to avoid going into the stack of riders that fell after Bouhanni slipped out. Cavendish banged his left brake lever back into position as he rode through the finish area, mindful that while his day could have ended with another win, it could have also ended up much worse.
"I stopped before but I hit the barriers and it knocked my shifter. I'm not hurt, I didn't go down, I was behind the guys who went down," Cavendish explained to the media at the race.
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"I don't think anyone caused the crash. Nacer lost his front wheel but it's clinkers [the road surface] and that was it… I don't think it was particularly bad, it was just one of those things."
Cavendish rarely got to sprint in 2017 after suffering from the Epstein Bar virus in the spring and then enduring the effects of the high-speed crash that ended his Tour de France prematurely and left him with a fractured shoulder blade. He is back to his old self after a solid winter and was clearly competitive in the sprints against a high-quality field of fast finishers.
The five days of racing at the Dubai Tour and the five chaotic finales presented Cavendish with five opportunities to work on the Dimension Data lead-out, study many of his biggest sprint rivals and rediscover his own sprinting instincts.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
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