Eddie Dunbar mentor Dan Curtin on what makes him great
Eddie Dunbar and Darragh O'Mahony are both Kanturk men. In the photo above they lead the winter training ride. One man key to their development, Dan Curtin, believes both riders are destined to go a long way. He hailed their attitudes as their strongest assets.
By Brian Canty
Eddie Dunbar’s long-time mentor Dan Curtin has said Saturday's win at the U23 Tour of Flanders is the first step towards a big contract for the 20-year old.
The former O’Leary’s Stone Kanturk rider and two-time Junior Tour of Ireland winner claimed a memorable solo victory.
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He attacked with 10 of the 168 kilometres remaining and crossed the line with plenty time to hold his hands in the air.
For Curtin, it was an emotional moment but not one he was very surprised by.
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He points to the Youth Championships in Limerick five years ago as the moment he saw something in Dunbar.
“This was predicted since he was young. He was always there or thereabouts. But from 16 on he came into his own,” said Curtin, chairman of the O’Leary’s Stone Kanturk club.
“He was always the workhorse for the boys when he was underage. And they were taking him out in the sprint.
“But then we educated him a small bit. And we got him into the time-trials. That was the first medal he got because he couldn’t get a medal in anything else.
“I remember we were up at 6 o’clock in the morning going down to Limerick for the Youth Championships that year.
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“We went down two mornings a week to practice on that time-trial and after it he went on and on. That was his first win and I said, ‘we have something special here’.”
Aside from being a quality rider, Curtin points to Dunbar’s humility as one of his strongest assets.
“Whatever day, whatever time and if you told him to cycle backwards he’d cycle backwards,” said Curtin.
“If you told him sit with a man in training, clean a bike or whatever he’d do it. And to this day he’d still do the very same.
“That’s the difference and that’s what’s made him what he is. He loves training here in Kanturk.
“He comes back here to do the training and then does his own stuff. It’s a big sign of a young fella that despite where he’s been he never forgot where he came from.
“He never left any young fella on the road if he needed food or he had a mechanical or anything. He’d do anything and everything for a fella.”
And Dan Curtin now believes Eddie Dunbar's latest win will definitely make a few heads turn in the WorldTour and ProContinental ranks.
“There were teams after him after the Junior Tour win but there’s more teams now. This is the first step now towards a big contract.
“We talked about it with Axel (Merckx, director of Axeon Hagens Berman) this year and I said to him ‘look, you have to go with Axel this year. Give it another year and see’.
“He would have stayed with NFTO if they went up pro but that fell apart. This is just brilliant.”
Adding to Dunbar's victory was the fact fellow club man Darragh O'Mahony was also on the Irish team with Dunbar on the day.
“Darragh is another man coming,” said Curtin. “He came in late but we got him going.
"He used be doing the leisure events. But I took him off those and said ‘come on we’re going racing’ and away he went.
“In fairness, he’s a good brain on him and a great racing head. He’s very cool and he’s going forward as well, he’ll go places too I’ll guarantee you that.”
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