Winning the U23 Tour of Flanders last year: Eddie Dunbar has more quality racing ahead of him with Team Sky before lining out for Ireland at the Innsbruck Worlds (Photo: Jens Morel)
Eddie Dunbar Team Sky for Memorial Marco Pantani
Eddie Dunbar will carry Irish hopes into the U23 road race at the World Championships next week.
He will be backed by a strong Irish team but has more action with Team Sky before then.
He races again tomorrow, Saturday; Memorial Marco Pantani the lastest outing in what appears a perfect schedule the week before the Worlds.
Among the opposition will be the Movistar pairing of Nairo Quintana and Mikel Landa.
Quintana is using the race to fine tune for the elite event at the Worlds, where Dunbar will try for U23 gold.
The 22-year-old Irish rider had faced a build-up to the Worlds with no racing for a month after his former team Aqua Blue Sport folded with no warning.
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But a special arrangement was put in place with Team Sky, which had already offered him a place for next season.
It meant Dunbar could become a Team Sky rider immediately and race with the squad straight away.
And now Dunbar has had some great racing with the British WorldTour outfit in the lead-in to the Worlds in Innsbruck, Austria.
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Our run of Italian races continues tomorrow at #MemorialPantani. Here's how Team Sky will line up as we look to continue our momentum
Leonardo Basso@markdon99 @EddieDunbar @golasmichal @5_henao @ChrisLawless95 @diegoro_89 pic.twitter.com/mfSyI8PGL9
— Team Sky (@TeamSky) September 21, 2018
He has ridden three quality races in the past week, starting with the 200km Coppa Agostoni last Saturday.
Another Italian autumn classic followed on Sunday; the 195km Coppa Bernocchi. And on Wednesday he rode the 199km Giro della Toscana.
He played a big role in those races, proving instrumental in setting up Gianni Moscon for victory in the first of third of those events.
At the Giro della Toscana he was especially impressive. He split the field on the last climb to the extent that only three big names could stay with him.
They were his own team mate Moscon, Romain Bardet (AG2R-La Mondiale) and Domenico Pozzovivo (Bahrain Merida).
Having ridden those three races and performed so well, Dunbar should be in great shape for the Worlds.
Before then, he rides the Memorial Marco Pantani (1.1) tomorrow. It take the riders some 200km from Cesenatico to Castrocaro Terme.
It features three passages of the Montevecchio; some 4.3km in length at seven per cent.
It may be Dunbar’s final outing before the 180km U23 contest at the Worlds this day week, Friday, September 28th.
Eddie Dunbar has two big wins under his belt while riding for Ireland, including this stage 7 victory in the Rás Tailteann in 2016 into Baltinglass (Photo: Ryan Byrne – Inpho)
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