Some you win, some you lose. Mark Cavendish has won a lot of sprints during his career and lost many others. He never likes to lose but shrugged off defeat this time and admitted a mea culpa after finishing third on the opening stage of the Abu Dhabi Tour won by Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek-Segafredo).
"I was just too far back in the last corner. I tried to move up but there were riders all up the road, so I had to soft pedal behind them. It was my fault," Cavendish explained to the media at the race, including Cyclingnews.
Cavendish's teammates had helped control and pull back the four-rider attack of the stage that included the strong pair of Orica-BikeExchange riders Michael Matthews and Jens Keukeleire. They made it hard for the peloton made up of six-rider teams to chase, with many opting not to help with the work.
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Cavendish is always disappointed when his rivals don't do their share of the work to ensure a race ends in a sprint but he diplomatically refused to name names this time, preferring to praise his own riders.
"We're not a team who is willing to let a race slip away," he pointed out.
"So if it's not going to come back then we'll commit everyone. Maybe some teams are maybe here on holiday and they don't care if the break goes. The gap went up with 20km to go and they weren't easy guys to catch, they're strong guys. We put Youcef Reguigui up front, who was our third man but fortunately you could see the guys in the break were cooked."
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