Eddie Dunbar will race with a US-based team next year under the eye of former pro Axel Merckx (Photo: Larry Hickmott - VeloUK.net)
Having ridden this year for UK-based NFTO ProCycling, Eddie Dunbar has announced he is leaving the squad for the United States.
The Irish teenager will ride next year with Axeon Cycling Team, a Continental-level outfit.
The squad has built a reputation for developing young talent since its inception in 2009, with team owner and director the former Belgian pro Axel Merckx.
One rider who has competed in the team’s colours this year and who Dunbar will look to emulate is rising British star Tao Geoghegan Hart.
Having spent the past two seasons in the US, he has ridden with Team Sky as a stagiaire in recent months such has been his development working under Merckx.
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And looks set to sign for the WorldTour squad in the not too distant future.
The move to the US is an excellent opportunity for Dunbar and on the face of it looks like a clever one.
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He resisted the temptation of throwing himself in at the deep end of European racing in 2015 when he opted to sign for UK-based NFTO Pro Cycling instead.
He has ridden very well for that squad and in the Nations Cup, European Championships and World Championships when competing for Ireland, Dunbar has ridden aggressively and strongly in the breakaways.
Those performances, coupled with the ability he already showed as a junior, see him move to a US scene with a team that will ride key races like the US Pro Challenge, Tour of Alberta, Tour of the Gila and a whole host of European one-day events and stage races.
Axeon is the kind of team that will give Dunbar to ride against WorldTour riders on both sides of the Atlantic next year. Above, the squad rides the team time trial in the Tour of Alberta in Canada last month.
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