Mark Cavendish left to rue tactical mistake as Marcel Kittel wins in Dubai

The event was the renewal of the supposed rivalry between the two best sprinters in the world but Cavendish could only watch on as Kittel raced away for his second stage win of the event, clinching the overall title in the process.

The Brit found himself out of position as he came round the sharp right-hand bend in the final 200 metres and ultimately finished third, behind the German and Team Sky's Elia Viviani.

The 26-time Tour De France stage winner will now turn his attention to the Tour of Qatar, which starts on Monday, but was disappointed not to end the Dubai Tour on a more positive note.

"We had the plan, it was to get on Kittel's wheel in the last kilometre, and then lay off," explained Cavendish.

"We knew the last corner was tight, so if we carried more speed and got a run-up I would be alright. In fact, I did the complete opposite.

"I ran right up [Elia] Viviani's wheel and I started the corner on the inside. If you take a wide angle into it you carry the speed a lot more.

"Yeah, it was a tactical mistake. I came in really hot on it, had to lose too much speed.

"I couldn't get it going – without big levers you can't get it going again out of the corner. I just cooked myself on the acceleration out of the corner. There's not much I could do with 150 [metres] to go after that."