Eddie Dunbar's early-season race programme with Axeon-Hagens Berman starts in Portugal and really ramps up thereafter. He will ride a number of key U23 Nations Cup races in April while the U23 Liége-Bastogne-Liége is another massive goal (Photo by Davey Wilson)
By Brian Canty
Eddie Dunbar has revealed an exciting early-season racing programme with his new team Axeon-Hagens Berman.
The 19-year old Corkman will make his competitive debut at the two-day UCI 2.2-ranked GP Liberty Seguros-Trofeu Alpendre in Portugal on March 12th and 13th.
He’ll stay on the Iberian peninsula for the following week to compete in the five-day Volta Alentajo, March 16th-20th; another UCI 2.2-ranked event.
Last year the then Axeon Cycling Team took a stage win on the opening day through James Oram who has since moved onto the ONE Pro Cycling team.
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He also held the race lead for a day before losing it, though he did finish third overall.
The race is a mixture of five flat and hilly road stages and should give Dunbar chances to stretch his legs.
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It should be very interesting to see how Eddie Dunbar gets on with his new US team and also in the colours of Ireland when he returns to the Nations Cup in his second year at U23 level (Photo by Davey Wilson)
From Portugal, the two-time Junior Tour of Ireland winner will move into Irish team colours for the first of three U23 Nations Cup races, the opener being the U23 Gent Wevelgem on Sunday March 27th.
The 185-kilometre race will be an absolute brute but one that’ll serve an important purpose for the riders who’ll be selected to compete, let alone Cycling Ireland in qualifying a team for the U23 Worlds.
Thirteen days later on Saturday April 4th he’ll ride the Tour of Flanders and the following Wednesday, April 13th, he’ll be in action at the Le Cote du Picardie in France, a race he rode with distinction last year.
His next outing after that is the U23 version of Liege-Bastogne-Liege on Saturday April 16th while a number of one-day races in Italy are also on the cards.
One race Dunbar won't be doing is the US Pro Challenge as it has been cancelled for 2016, though is expected to return next year.
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