Eddie Dunbar is one of the youngest riders in the field for the Tour of Britain which gets underway tomorrow, Sunday. The Corkman was riding the Charleville Two-Day 12 months ago but will race against some of the biggest names in the world of professional cycling over the coming week (Photo: Larry Hickmott: VeloUK)
By Brian Canty
Eddie Dunbar is one of four Irishman in the 180-rider field for the 2.HC-ranked Tour of Britain which gets underway in the Welsh town of Beaumaris tomorrow.
The 19-year-old Corkman, riding for NFTO Pro Cycling, is one of the youngest riders in the star-studded field.
He looked to be in mint condition and showed no fear on the opening stage of the Tour de Yorkshire against a field that, like the Tour of Britain, also featured major WorldTour teams.
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But he crashed out on the opener, with the coming week an excellent opportunity to make up for that bad luck.
The three other Irishmen are Ryan Mullen who makes his debut with Garmin-Cannondale, while An Post Chain Reaction have Conor Dunne and Jack Wilson amongst their number.
It will be a proud day for Mullen as he was born and raised not far from where the race starts.
The reigning national rime-trial champion will be under no pressure to do anything spectacular.
However, with defending champion Dylan Van Baarle in his team the Irishman will most likely be on domestique duty as he adapts to the rigours of racing at WorldTour level.
Dunne and Wilson will look to make an impact and both will hope to get in any move they can.
Last year the team had one of the stars of the race in Mark McNally who claimed the king of the mountains jersey.
McNally has since moved to Madison Genesis but in his absence the team have a couple of men capable of winning stages, as Sam Bennett and Gediminas Bagdonas did for the team in recent years.
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Lithuanian Aidis Kroupis can definitely contest the sprints while compatriot Paulius Siskevicius is the national champion road race champion and will look to target the hilly stages.
Dunbar has ridden the European Championships, the RideLondon Classic as well as a couple of U23 Nations Cup races this year but the Tour of Britain represents a much more difficult challenge.
He will look to impose himself on the hillier stages and while he is still very young and only in his first year out of the juniors, do not bet against him making an impact.
Monday’s leg from Clitheroe to Colne looks really good for him, with two brutally steep climbs in the latter half of the race.
Stage five is another day where the young Corkman could upstage some of the established order.
The day features a summit finish atop Hartside Fell in Cumbria, a category one climb that reaches 550 metres.
It’s definitely a route favoured to the climbers and it’ll be interesting to see how Dunbar stacks up, though to expect top results is probably a bit premature.
In the field this week are some of the best riders of the current generation, with Bradley Wiggins (Team Wiggins) and Mark Cavendish (Etixx QuickStep) down to start.
Also in the line-up are Taylor Phinney (BMC Racing Team), Ben Swift (Team Sky), Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal), Alex Dowsett (Movistar) and Zdenek Stybar (Etixx QuickStep).
Tour of Britain (2.HC), Sept 6-13
Stage 1, Sun Sept 6, Beaumaris, Anglesey to Wrexham, 177km
Stage 2, Mon Sept 7, Clitheroe to Colne, 162km
Stage 3, Tues Sept 8, Cockermouth to Floors Castle, Kelso, 216km
Stage 4, Weds Sept 9, Edinburgh to Blyth, 218km
Stage 5, Thur Sept 10, Prudhoe to Hartside Pass, 171km
Stage 6, Fri Sept 11, Stoke-on-Trent to Nottingham, 189km
Stage 7, Sat Sept 12, Fakenham to Ipswich, 225km
Stage 8, Sun Sept 13, London criterium, 93km
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