Eddie Dunbar will be back in action on Sunday when he lines out with Ineos Grenadiers in the Tour de Suisse, one of the tune-up races for the Tour de France.
Dunbar has been busy this year, already having raced for
30 days - more than any of the other riders in the team for Switzerland - and
the eight-stage race ahead will offer a stern test.
While Critérium du Dauphiné has become the most popular Tour de France preparation race for top riders, and other contenders are now opting to train more instead of racing, the Tour de Suisse remains an important pre-Tour fixture for some.
And the Ineos Grenadiers team contains riders who are either certain or very likely to make the team's Tour de France selection, namely Richard Carapaz, Rohan Dennis and Luke Rowe.
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Pavel Sivakov, who abandoned the Giro after a stage 5 crash, may also be in line for a Tour place. Despite fracturing a collar bone in the Giro, he also rides the Tour de Suisse, alongside Sebastien Henao and Michał Gołaś.
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Adam Yates, who had been due to ride the race, is missing from the team's selection and he has not raced since Liège-Bastogne-Liège at the end of April. Tom Pidcock had been due to ride in Switzerland but is now out injured due to a training crash in Andorra on Monday.
Carapaz is the obvious general classification contender for the team, though Dennis was 2nd overall in Switzerland two years ago. Sivakov, if he is recovered and can stay upright, could also mount a challenge.
The other stand-out names in the field include world champion Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep), Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin Fenix) and Tom Dumoulin (Jumbo Visma); the latter back after a break from competition.
Esteban Chaves (BikeExchange) is also on the start list, as is Max Schachmann (Bora-hansgrohe), while Wout Poels (Bahrain-Victorious) and Jakob Fuglsang (Astana-Premier Tech) are also capable of impressing.
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