Mark Cavendish clinched the green points jersey at the Abu Dhabi Tour in the United Arab Emirates at the weekend.

The Manx Missile, riding in his second season for Team Dimension Data, enjoyed a fine race in the four-day event which culminated with a thrilling sprint finish at the Yas Marina Formula One circuit on Sunday evening.

He got off to an excellent start on Thursday, when he won the 189km opening stage with a trademark sprint finish thanks to good work from Dimension Data team-mates Bernie Eisel, Mark Renshaw and South African Reinardt Janse van Rensburg.

Managing to avoid a crash near the end of the stage that sprint rival Marcel Kittel was caught up, Cav took the win from Andre Greipel.

After his success, the 31-year-old said: ’The team was fantastic, really the lads did a phenomenal job today and I can’t fault anyone in the team.

’We knew that last corner was where it was going to count though and we had to get there first.

’We were hugging the barrier and I think it was a new guy from Orica, who tried to come up the inside.

’When I saw the barrier I thought, ah no, there is no way you’ll get your whole team through there and next thing we heard the crash behind.’

Onchan resident Ben Swift (UAE Team Emirates) came home 19th, while Peter Kennaugh (Team Sky) was 116th.

Cavendish’s first victory of the season was overshadowed by a row over the use of disc brakes in the peloton after fellow Brit Owain Doull was caught up in the crash with Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors).

Kittel’s bike was fitted with the controversial metal disc brakes on his bike, and Doull’s shoe received cuts from the disc in the melee of the crash.

Olympic team pursuit champion Doull - making his debut for Team Sky - was able to remount his bike and complete the stage.

But when he rolled over the line he noticed two slices through his shoes, and he told reporters he was certain what had caused them.

’My shoe was cut to pieces; that’s definitely brakes that did that,’ he said. ’It’s gone straight through my shoe into my foot. That’s lucky it is not my leg. If that had been my leg it would have cut straight to it.’

He posted a photo of the shoe on Twitter, followed by another of his sock with blood on it. It did not take long for riders to take the UCI to task.

Cavendish continued to lead after finishing third behind Kittel and Australia’s Caleb Ewan on stage two over a distance of 153km.

Cav’s team again left its lead-out late, only moving to the front with 2km to go.

In the final sprint, Cav latched onto the wheel of Orica-Scott rider Ewan, and looked to be in prime position.

But as Cavendish made his push for the line down the left, Ewan was able to hold good speed.

The Aussie thought he had it and as he sat up to raise his arms in salute, only for Quickstep-Floors man Kittel to sneak under Ewan’s right arm to take the victory.

Cavendish had to settle for third place but kept the overall race lead.

Swift was 46th and Kennaugh 102nd.

With the 186km third stage from Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium to Jebel Hafeet featuring an uphill finish, it was unlikely that Cav would hold onto the leader’s jersey for another day.

So it proved as former UCI World Road Race Champion Rui Costa claimed the stage victory ahead of Team Katusha’s Ilnur Zakarin.

Kennaugh was the second Briton to cross the line in 41st place, with Swift claiming 64th and Cav having to settle for 130th.

In doing so he relinquished the red leader’s jersey to Portuguese star Costa.

The final stage of this year’s tour saw riders tackle 12 laps of the iconic Yas Marina race circuit, home of the Abu Dhabi Formula One grand prix.

Like the first two stages, this was expected to end in a sprint finish and so it proved as it again came down a battle between Ewan and Cavendish as well as German sprinter Greipel.

Ewan came out on top with the Manx Missile second, but the result was enough for Cav to successfully clinch the green points jersey.