Etixx - Quick-Step and Mark Cavendish did all the right things during the longest and hilliest stage of Dubai Tour, 205km Stage 3 on Friday. Cavendish, in the Blue Jersey as race leader after winning Stage 1 and finishing 2nd in Stage 2, was brought back to the peloton and stayed with the group all the way into the uphill Hatta Dam finish. He finished 17th, 10" down, on a final climb with a gradient as high as 17 percent.
John Degenkolb (Giant Alpecin) was escorted to the front by his teammates just before the steepness hit, and he was able to launch and hold his power to the line for the win. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) was 2nd, and JJ Lobato (Movistar) was 3rd.
The race had come back together after two riders remained up the road in a late race attack with about 5km to go in the stage.
Degenkolb moved into the race lead by just 4" over Cavendish due to the gap, but there is still a 128km final flat stage that is predicted to end in a bunch sprint once again on Saturday.
Cavendish remains in the Red (points) jersey.
"Great ride by my team," Cavendish said. "They really gave everything. I knew I'd be distanced on the climb, with 35km to go, but the team stayed with me, rode a good tempo, and knew we could catch back whoever was riding in front. We did that. We reconned this stage a couple of days ago, so we knew it well. I knew I would get over the last climb before the final without problems, so it was just about position going into the Hatta Dam finale. There was no point going for the win, I'd rather save my energy for tomorrow. I knew there wouldn't really be much of a gap in the peloton so I tried to sit there. I am now down 4 seconds in the GC but OK. Now I want to try and do something good on the final stage. This team rode incredibly the past three days and after all of the hard work by Etixx - Quick-Step, I'd like to finish it off well and honor the work my teammates have done."