Eddie Dunbar will arrive into BikeExchange-Jayco as a team leader and it should come as no surprise to see him leading the team at Giro d'Italia next May, the team's head sports director Matt White has said.
In remarks that will come as music to the ears of Irish cycling fans, White said Ineos Grenadiers did not give Dunbar enough opportunities, but he would "definitely" get those next year. He added Dunbar won two stage races this year but "couldn't even make the Giro roster" at Ineos Grenadiers. However, White insisted the next few years would be very different for the Irish climber.
White explained BikeExchange-Jayco management regarded Dunbar as someone who will lead the team, riding for general classification, at stage races. If Simon Yates was leading the squad at one race, Dunbar could lead at another.
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"What he was missing at Ineos was opportunity," White told The Cycling Podcast of Dunbar's near 4½ years at Ineos Grenadiers, still Team Sky when he joined after the sudden demise of Aqua Blue Sport during the 2018 campaign.
"There's a guy who has won two stage races this year, and I think he's only done one Grand Tour in the four or five years that he actually did with Ineos," said White. He noted Dunbar "couldn't even make the Giro roster" at Ineos Grenadiers despite his form delivering him wins at Coppi e Bartali, before the Giro, and Tour de Hongrie during it."
White continued: "So that's a good place for teams like to us to look; you look at those big teams with a lot of money and look at their guys who aren't getting the opportunities that they want. And someone like Eddie will walk into this team as a leader," said White.
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"And we haven't locked in our programmes for next year but I wouldn't be surprised if you see someone like Eddie Dunbar leading us at the Giro d'Italia next year, whereas he couldn't even make the team at Ineos in 2022.
"For us, he's going to give us another back-up for Simon Yates. If we've got Simon racing, for example, at Basque Country for general classification, we've got someone else racing on another front. That's something we have lacked since Adam Yates left the team, when we were battling on two fronts very successfully.
"So I think Eddie is going to be a very good value-add for us on the GC-front. And it's exciting for him to get those opportunities he will definitely get with us."
White's confirmation of Dunbar's place in the team's plans is great news as the Irishman could simply not get a start in a Grand Tour with Ineos Grenadiers. He rode the Giro with the team in 2019 - the first Grand Tour start available - and never started another one.
Dunbar was unlucky at times with illness and crash injuries. But when the Corkman was not selected for this year's Giro it all but confirmed his exit from the British team, especially as he had just taken his first pro win, at Coppi e Bartali.
Dunbar is now aged 26 years and the opportunities set to come his way over the next few years arrive at the perfect time in his career. Having won two stage races this year he is going to BikeExchange-Jayco on a three-year deal having very much confirmed what he can do and having shown he is still improving as a rider.
