Andrea Guardini (Astana) again showed that he is one of the very fastest sprinters in the world when he came very fast from behind to take 3rd in the final stage of the Dubai Tour. Again it could have been even more if it hadn't been for poor positioning and the Italian blamed the result on the behaviour of a lead-out man from a rival team.

Andrea Guardini has often proved that few riders can match his top speed in a flat sprint but too often he misses out the opportunity to benefit from his incredible final burst due to poor positioning. That was again the case in today's final stage of the Dubai Tour where the speedy Italian ended 3rd.

When Marcel Kittel (Giant-Shimano) powered down the finishing straight to take his third stage win in a row, Guardini was nowhere to be seen. Again he was badly placed when the sprint was launched but suddenly the he stormed ahead and with a very fast finish he managed to take the final spot on the podium.

Afterwards, he blamed a rival lead-out man for the result which could have been even better.

“I lost [lead-out man] Jacopo [Guarnieri] for a moment at the last right turn – the team and the legs were good – but I was in the wrong place when it started and did the sprint from too far back, too late for winning," he said. “The last [rider from another team] finished his turn and pulled into the group, instead of away from it – how did he not know how we had been rotating for the last 6 or 8 km? How the trains were working at the front? Everybody was yelling.”

Guardini will now hope to put his speed on show in the Tour of Qatar as he has travelled direct to the Arabian country for tomorrow's start of the next desert race.