Eddie Dunbar, and the other riders who finished close to him, all looked shattered after their ride on stage 4 today at the Tour de Romandie; this video released by the race organisers capturing the wrecked faces of the men who did battle.
The riders raced a 161km stage from Sion to Thyon 2000, finishing atop the 20km climb in cold, soaking wet and misty conditions and the impact of the racing was etched all over their faces.
Dunbar's Ineos Grenadiers team mate, Geraint Thomas, was sprinting for victory against Michael Woods (Israel Start-Up Nation) when his right hand came off the bars and sent him crashing to the ground with about 50 metres to go to the line.
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He said afterwards his hands were so cold that when he was trying to change his gears in the sprint he couldn't feel his hand and made a mess of what he was doing, crashing as a result.
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Dunbar, who has been worth his weight in gold to the team on this race, put in a fierce pace up the climb before slipping back with about 7km to go. He eventually finished in 28th place; a very solid result considering his job was to empty himself long before the finish for his team mates.
While Thomas crashed today, and so missed the chance to win the stage and take the race lead, he is now 2nd overall some 11 seconds behind stage winner and new race leader Woods. Thomas should win the race overall as he will be highly fancied in tomorrow's final 16km TT.
If he wins it will be his first victory since the 2018 Tour de France and a major boost ahead of leading his team in this year's Tour. Dunbar can be very satisfied with his performance this week; riding for very long periods on the front on the climbs and often shredding the field with the power he has been able to turn out.
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