Cavendish takes the blame for failing to deny Kittel in Dubai Tour

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  • Cavendish (c) with Kittel (r).

    Mark Cavendish blamed himself and feels he let his team-mates down for failing to edge out Marcel Kittel in the bunch sprint of Saturday’s final stage of the Dubai Tour, saying the German champion is currently “very difficult to beat”.

    Kittel took the spot Cavendish vacated at Etixx-Quick-Step at the end of last season and he hit the ground running, winning his debut race with the Belgian team in Dubai, thanks to some perfect lead-outs from his team-mates.

    Cavendish, who now rides for Team Dimension Data – the first African squad to join professional cycling’s top tier – confessed he could not execute the plan that would have allowed him to sprint to victory.

    Instead, he crossed the finish line in third place behind Kittel and Sky’s Elia Viviani.

    “So we had the plan, which was to get Kittel’s wheel before the last kilometre and lay off because we knew the last right-hand corner was tight. So just carry more speed and just get a run up and I would have been alright,” Cavendish explained a few metres past the finish line while getting mobbed by Eritrean fans.

    “In fact, I did the complete opposite. And ran up on Viviani’s wheel and started the corner on the inside. If you take a wide angle into it, you carry the speed a lot more. I just did a tactical f***-up and then came in really hot on it and had to lose too much speed.

    “I couldn’t get it going, without big levers you can’t get it going again out of the corner, I just cooked myself on the acceleration out of the corner. There’s not much I could do.”

    Cavendish is aware that Kittel may have a more experienced squad at his disposal and help him win the sprints this season but says he has faith in Dimension Data and is keen on tackling new challenges with them.

    “I knew that was going to be the situation when I left Quick-Step anyway,” said Cavendish. “I worked with those guys, they always did a superb job for me. If I wanted to carry on sitting there sprinting things might be different. I’m just looking for new challenges here at Dimension Data.

    “The guys were actually phenomenal in the final, really came together. Natnael (Berhane) did a turn like guys who had been in a lead-out for many years, so I was super super happy with that. In the end, I just let them down, I can’t fault anything on the lads.”

    The 2011 world champion believes he can still take positives from his four days of racing in Dubai.

    Having spent most of his winter training on the track as he targets a spot on Team GB in the omnium at the Olympics, Cavendish is happy with his road form early on.

    “I’ve just looked at my power, it’s the highest power I’ve had in the road sprint since before Sky, since 2011,” he added.

    “I know that the form is pretty decent. It just so happens I’m racing against, not really a standard rider, you know.

    “Put Marcel Kittel on his own and he’s going to be difficult, but Marcel Kittel with a year’s holiday and a whole winter’s preparation, he’s very very difficult to beat. Especially when I’ve been training for track.”

    The 30-year-old will now fly to Doha on Saturday night, where he’ll be competing in the Tour of Qatar.

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