Eddie Dunbar finished 2nd on the third
stage of Coppi e Bartali in Italy today, when the Irishman took a time bonus,
retained his race leader’s jersey and also extended his advantage at the top of
the standings.
His young team mate Ben Tulett won the
stage – his first victory as a pro - by attacking from the four-man select
group about 1km from the finish line on the uphill finale.
And while 20-year-old Tulett was in
danger of taking Dunbar’s race leader’s jersey from him, the Irishman sprinted
in behind him for 2nd place, leaving Simon Carr (EF Education-EasyPost) and
Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates) in his wake.
That final effort by Dunbar to take 2nd
place meant he mopped up a six-second time bonus and made sure the gap to
Tulett on the line was only three seconds. And though Tulett took a 10-second
time bonus today for winning, he is still nine seconds down on Dunbar with two
stages remaining.
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The strength of Dunbar’s finishing
effort was clear to see as he put two seconds into Hirschi in 3rd and four into
Carr. He made sure he rode for himself to retain the race lead while not
putting his team mate’s stage win under any threat.
After the stage Dunbar said the course,
which was up and down all day with four passages of the final climb, was demanding.
He added all of his team mates had contributed to today’s stage win and his
retention of the race lead.
“I think we rode really well, the whole team,”
Dunbar said. “Cam (Cameron Wurf) and Laurens (De Plus) did a super job early
on and Salva (Puccio) did a really good job again when
the race started to get really difficult. And then G (Geraint Thomas) did the
same.
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“And
then we took control, me and Ben. And we came out on top, 1st and 2nd. So
hopefully we can keep that until Saturday,” he added of the two remaining
stages, which he now goes into as red hot favourite to win.
Today
his team mate, and yesterday’s stage winner, Ethan Hayter, fell out of
contention when he lost over one minute. And it looks like Tulett is the only
one who can challenge Dunbar for the race lead, by taking time bonuses in the
two final sprints, if the finishes come down to sprints from reduced groups.
Asked
how he coped with all the attacking on the final climb – especially the move
with 4km to go by Hirschi which split the select group - Dunbar suggested it was
about pacing the marking the right men.
“We
did the climb four times, I knew you how to pace it,” he said. “And when you
have a guy like G there, especially, who knows how to ride a climb at a pace,
it's just a matter of following the strong guys.
“We
know how good Hirschi is and when a guy like that goes up the road you have to
follow. And by following, you have UAE behind and for sure they're not going to
chase him either.
“So we
played it well in the end. And Ben (Tulett)… super job, super tactics in the
end. And it’s set up nicely for the next few days I think.”
Dunbar has nine seconds on Tulett with
Hirschi 3rd at 24 seconds Carr 4th at 30 seconds and 20-year-old Italian Antonio Tiberi (Trek – Segafredo) 5th at 45 seconds.
