The ten bonus seconds he gained from being first over the finish line was also enough for him to win the overall, with overnight leader John Degenkolb (Giant-Alpecin) finishing further down in ninth place.
Cavendish benefited from a superb lead-out from his team. With 2.5km they moved to the front of the peloton with a train five riders strong. Despite attempts from Sky and UnitedHealthcare to take over at the front, Etixx retained control at set their sprinter up perfectly.
By the time final domestique Mark Renshaw was at the front, there was a clear gap of a few bike lengths between him and Cavendish ahead of the rest of the peloton. Cavendish thus started his sprint with a head-start, and despite the best efforts of Elia Viviani (Sky) and Juan Jose Lobato (Movistar) – who finished second and third respectively – victory for the Manxman was inevitable.
Britain's Ben Swift (Sky) finished fourth, two places behind team-mate Viviani.
A flat parcours meant that few events of note took place prior to the sprint. A break of five was contained by the peloton and caught with just over six kilometres to spare, and never threatened to make it to the end.
Results Dubai Tour 2015, stage four: Dubai International Marine Club to Burj Khalifa, 123km
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1. Mark Cavendish (GBr) Etixx-QuickStep
2. Elia Viviani (Ita) Sky
3. Juan Jose Lobato (Spa) Movistar
4. Ben Swift (GBr) Sky
5. Andrea Guardini (Ita) Astana
6. Daniele Ratto (Ita) UnitedHealthcare
7. Martijn Verschoor (Ned) Novo Nordisk
8. Davide Cimolai (Ita) Lampre-Merida
9. John Degenkolb (Ger) Giant-Alpecin
10. Andrea Palini (Ita) SkyDive Dubai all same time
Final overall classification
1. Mark Cavendish (GBr) Etixx-QuickStep
2. John Degenkolb (Ger) Giant-Alpecin at 6 secs
3. Juan Jose Lobato (Spa) Movistar at 10 secs
4. Alejandro Valerde (Spa) Movistar at 12 secs
5. Marco Canola (Ita) UnitedHealthcare at 14 secs
6. Alessandro Bazzana (Ita) UnitedHealthcare at 17 secs
7. Grega Bole (Slo) CCC Polsat Polkowice at 18 secs
8. Philippe Gilbert (Bel) BMC Racing at 18 secs
9. Manuele Boaro (Ita) Tinkoff-Saxo at 18 secs
10. Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Lampre-Merida at 18 secs
Mark Cavendish wins stage four of the 2015 Dubai Tour
The peloton on stage four of the 2015 Dubai Tour
(Image credit: Watson)
Ian Boswell on stage four of the 2015 Dubai Tour
(Image credit: Watson)
Ben Swift on stage four of the 2015 Dubai Tour
(Image credit: Watson)
Mark Cavendish wins stage four of the 2015 Dubai Tour
(Image credit: Watson)
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Stephen Puddicombe is a freelance journalist for Cycling Weekly, who regularly contributes to our World Tour racing coverage with race reports, news stories, interviews and features. Outside of cycling, he also enjoys writing about film and TV - but you won't find much of that content embedded into his CW articles.
