Dubai, Feb 9 (IANS) The fourth and final stage of the inaugural Dubai Tour saw German cyclist Marcel Kittel on Giant-Shimano bringing home a hattrick while American Taylor Phinney for BMC Racing sealed his overall victory.
Phinney said Saturday he felt every day he could lose his lead, “so every day I felt relieved”, reports Xinhua.
The 25-year old Kittel won the last leg in 2:41:9 but his victories for the last three out of four stages were not enough to displace Phinney from being the overall winner. The German was followed by Australian Mark Renshaw for Omega Pharma QuickStep and Andrea Guardini (Italy) of Astana.
The 124-km-long final stage, also called Old Dubai stage, started near the Dubai World Trade Centre and went along Emirate’s coastline up to the man-made island — Palm Jumeirah — before the pack headed back to cross the finish line near the world’s tallest building Burj Khalifa.
The cyclists received the prizes from Dubai’s sports ambassador and Argentine football legend Diego Maradona.