The youngest rider in the Tour of Britain, Eddie Dunbar says he is hopeful of making an impression on the hilly stages including today, Monday (Photo: Larry Hickmott-VeloUK)
Eddie Dunbar may have missed the breakaway on the opening stage of the Tour of Britain yesterday, Sunday, but he showed enough of himself to suggest he's in great form and ready to make an impact.
The Irish teenager darted out of the bunch to pick up some climbers' points on the only cat 1 ascent of the day; Llanberis Pass after 57.9km.
And though he would lose 32 seconds when the field split at the very end of the race into Wrexham, he achieved his mission of finishing the opening stage in one piece.
In advance of the stage he said he would use it to assess his form and to try and get clear in a breakaway but that staying upright was the first goal.
Advertisement
He described as "a bad experience" his crashing out of the Tour de Yorkshire on stage 1 back in May after he had gotten clear in the early breakaway and mopped up a lot of climbers' points.
He suffered a broken collarbone and was forced out of racing for over a month.
His frustration at having to depart the race was compounded by the fact he was voted most aggressive rider on the stage for his exploits before his spill.
That meant he would have worn a classification jersey the following day.
And he may even have taken the climbers' jersey had he managed to score just a few additional points after his breakaway was caught.
Dunbar said had he gotten into the breakaway yesterday he would gave tried to target the climbers’ jersey in the week ahead.
Related News
He will now try to make an impression on general classification and try for a top result on some of the hillier stages.
“I quite like the look of stage 2 actually; there’s a nice steep climb in the last 50k,” he said of Monday’s 159km leg from Clitheroe to Colne.
It begins with the cat 1 Nick O’Pendle right at the start of the stage, which should ensure a frantic opening; the kind of racing that suits the 19-year-old from Banteer.
That is followed by the cat 1 Bleara Moor after 105km and the cat 2 Pendle Big End, crested at 123km and with just over 35km to the finish.
“You’d never know what might happen,” Dunbar added of the stage. “I think it will be fairly split up; we might be able to do something there.
“And then possibly there’s the hill finish on stage 5 so we’ll have to see how we got on that.”
Thursday's stage 5 takes the riders 166km from Prudhoe to Hartside. Going across the Pennines, it features a cat 1 climb at Hayden Bridge, crested at the 28.9km point.
The riders then face two cat 3 climbs – Croglin after 85km and Brockleymoor after 103km – before heading for the big finale that could really suit Dunbar if he is in top form.
The final climb is 8km to the summit finish on Hartside Fell above Penrith in the Eden District.
Topics
