Etixx - Quick-Step Cycling Team and Mark Cavendish performed perfectly in the final stage in the Dubai Tour. There was a double reward waiting at the finish line after great teamwork and an outstanding leadout.

At the start of 128km Stage 4, Mark Cavendish was 4 seconds behind the leader of the GC, John Degenkolb (Giant Alpecin) thanks to a pack finish on a steep Hatta Dam finale in Stage 3. This small time difference was key, as a victory would mean also mean the top step of the overall podium.

A group of five riders animated the final stage, but were caught in the final 10 kilometers. Carlos Verona and Petr Vakoc were crucial workers in the chase on the 5 leaders.

In the preparation for the final sprint Cavendish had five Etixx - Quick-Step teammates in front of him. Etixx - Quick-Step took over the lead in the second-to-last kilometer and brought Cavendish into great position for the sprint. Cavendish did what he said he wanted to do after Stage 3: Finish the job of his teammates and wrap up Dubai Tour with the stage win, which also resulted in taking home the Paul Smith designed Blue Jersey as the 2015 overall victor.

Cavendish also took home the Red (points) jersey.

"I didn't really have to do much, the team did everything," Cavendish said. "We were really motivated today. It was a tough breakaway, but Etixx - Quick-Step did a great job controlling it with the help of Giant Alpecin. Then the leadout was absolutely phenomenal. It was so fast there was a gap before I started to sprint. I looked and I saw the gap, and I went a little bit early so I could keep the gap and it all worked out perfectly.

“I’m super-happy, obviously. Obviously it’s nice to win, but winning isn’t new. What makes this super special is the fact that Etixx - Quick-Step just rode from the beginning of the race on Wednesday until the finish of the race here today. Our team wanted to control. We had no help but the majority was left to us and the lads rode out of their skin for four days.

"Yesterday it wasn’t necessarily for me, it wasn’t a stage that really suited me, but we honoured the jersey, we rode, and the lads stayed around me and delivered me as best as possible and more than I could have hoped for. They kept me within distance of winning this Dubai Tour overall. We wanted it back. The lads rode with fire in their eyes today. That was a phenomenal display the whole day, not just the lead-out. To be fair, I didn’t really do anything, so I’m incredibly grateful to the lads for this win. I think, yeah, they deserve this jersey more than me.

“I was waiting for someone, I thought someone would jump early, so I looked before I kicked off Renshaw’s wheel and we had a gap. It was a headwind so ideally I would have gone a bit later, but I saw we had a gap from Renshaw, and if I left it any longer maybe they’d get the run-up on me from the slipstream, so I had to go early to make sure I still had a gap so they couldn’t use me as a slingshot, and so I just had a look round to see if I’d held it all before the line.

"This was a win by Etixx - Quick-Step today. The guys were fantastic. That was really something special. I'm so proud of them and proud to get the Blue jersey at the end as well. I'm really happy. This is my 3rd stage win, and Gianni Meersman also won a race down in Australia, so we're looking forward to another successful year for Etixx - Quick-Step.

"I'm also super thrilled that this is the 3rd GC victory of my career. Here at Dubai Tour it's not exactly a sprinter's race, but it can favor people who can sprint. I know for sure last year I wasn't looking for the GC. This year I came here in good form. It wasn't really something I was expecting, but with the way the guys have been working all week it was something special to finish off with the GC win.

“I don’t have too many trophies out and about in my houses. I have photos of the family, more than anything. But this is a special one, it’s a beautiful trophy designed by Pininfarina, and it’s a special win. I don’t know. It’ll probably go… We have a little museum in Service Course [in Wevelgem]. I’ll give it to them because it was the team that won here, it wasn’t me.”

“It’s nice to win a GC, especially when not all the days were pan flat, you know? It was a smallish group yesterday. I worked hard over the winter, and it looks like we’ve gelled really well as a group, the lads who were here and also the group I had in Argentina as well. I’m super happy with my form and the form and commitment of Etixx - Quick-Step and I look forward to another successful year for us.

“I think globalisation of cycling is extremely important for the growth of the sport. It has to be done right though. Races like this in Dubai definitely do that right. There’s some races that didn’t quite work and it messed things up in the season, but definitely these short tours like this are growing and you can see from one year to the next  it’s already stepped up a level. It’s definitely a move in the right direction in countries that cycling is actually becoming popular. It’s a big step forward, I think it’s what cycling needs.

"This also shows I am on target for my next goals in the racing calendar. It's super encouraging for what's next, for me as well as my teammates who I want to thank for everything they did at Dubai Tour.

“I do Murcia and Almeria next week, then Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, then the Cape Argos event (in Cape Town), then Tirreno-Adriatico. And then Milan-San Remo obviously."