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.

“They've given me 11 seconds to Degenkolb but I don't know if there was a gap. We'll have to look at the overhead shot. I finished 11 seconds back but if there wasn't a gap then I shouldn't get 11 seconds. We'll check.

“There's nothing I can do about it, there's no point in getting angry. If there's a gap, there's a gap.

"They should not have been a gap, from the second place we all arrived in dribs and drabs, one behind the other, I have made a major effort to try to defend the jersey and I am penalized despite that effort. They also penalized all the great job that the team has done to help me return and fight for the win. It is not right that everything is ruined, anyway tomorrow I will give my best with my teammates to win the final sprint and the general classification of the race. 

“I knew there wouldn't be a big gap in the peloton, so I tried to sit there. It looks like they gave me a gap but now I just want to recover for tomorrow. We'd like to win another stage. We've ridden incredibly all week, We've been on the front for three days.

“It was a great ride by team, we wanted to give it everything. Today I could see that the peloton was finding it hard in the crosswinds but we had young rider Petr Vakoc riding for us. I knew I'd be distanced on the climb with 35km to go but the team stayed with me and rode a good tempo and knew we could catch back whoever was riding in front. We knew we cold get back on. We'd studied the stage finish before the start of the race, so we knew it and I knew I was on better form than last year and that I could get over the last climb no problem. It was just about positioning before the final climb and there was no point in going for the win. I'd rather save my energy for tomorrow.

"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."