Britain's Steve Cummings finished second on the first stage of the first ever Tour Of Dubai.
Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, had been given a 2.1 race and had ensured that everything was laid on to attact a star 127 strong field which featured Mark Cavendish, Cadel Evans, Marcel Kittel and Fabian Cancellera.
It was BMC's Taylor Phinney who set the early fastest time on the opening Individual Time Trial with a time of 12.03 for a 9.9km course which took in many of the sites around Dubai.
Behind Phinney, who said:"You can see that a lot of importance has been placed on this race and I have as well. "It is going to be a hard race to win."
BMC's British rider Steve Cummings (pictured below) had a great rider and went into a provisional second place, some fourteen seconds behind his team-mate.
Giant Shimano's German sprinter Marcel Kittel finished in 12.41 before Mark Cavendish who told Eurosport: "I’m good form and my best seasons have been when I have started off easy but we have a good team and hopefully we will get some results off it." , took to the road followed by Fabian Cancellera of the Trek Factory Team.
Cavendish finished in 12.57 to get a big cheer from the crowd whilst Cancellera (pictured below), who has said that he was not a contender for the race, finished in 12.28 to go third.
Peter Sagan, Alejandro Valverde, Tony Martin and then World Champion Rui Costa went down the ramp
Garmin's Lasse Norman Hansen took over from Cancellera in third with Sagan going fifth after finishing in 12.34.
Neither Sagan, Valverde, or Costa troubled the top ten whilst Tony Martin in a first race of the year finished fourth in 12.35 to give Taylor Phinney the win and the leader's jersey going into the first road stage of the race.
Result
1 Taylor Phinney BMC 12.03
2 Steve Cummings BMC +14
3 Lasse Norman Hansen +16
4 Tony Martin Omega Pharma Quick Step +22
5 Fabien Cancellera Trek Factory Racing +25
Pictures copyright of Covsupport News Service