Andrea Guardini (Astana) did an impressively fast sprint in today's stage of the Dubai Tour but had to settle for second behind Mark Cavendish.

“At the finish line I saw 74km on my SRM, but it was too slow for a victory by 10cm," he said after the stage.

Guardini found guidance in the final kilometers of the flat race with a finishing circuit from teammates Alexey Lutsenko and Ruslan Tleubayev, and started the mass sprint at 300m to go.

"At the line, I was hoping that I had beaten Cavendish but I lost very narrowly," he told Tuttobiciweb. "The feeling is good. I'm delighted to be there in front to battle with opponents who have already raced. I needed a result against those opponents and to make a comparison with last year. I now have confirmation that I have worked very well in this winter."

Astana Pro Team captain Vincenzo Nibali took one turn at the front of the peloton, and the entire squad battled head-to-head with the team of stage winner Mark Cavendish of the United Kingdom until the final sprint.

"We tried to help Guardini as much as possible," Nibali told Tuttobiciweb. "We did a good job. It was a shame that victory escaped us by a whisker but the most important stages are still to come. Today I didn't feel too good but that is normal as it is the first race of my season."

Cavendish will wear the race leader’s blue jersey tomorrow in another expected sprint, with Guardini in red for points classification."