Eddie Dunbar will leave Ineos Grenadiers at the end of this year and join Australian World Tour team BikeExchange-Jayco, which has now announced the move on the first day of cycling's official transfer window.
Dunbar has enjoyed a solid season this year, with his best results to date, after claiming overall victory in both Tour de Hongrie and Coppi e Bartali. However, the fact he was overlooked by Ineos Grenadiers for a place on the Giro team all but confirmed his time with the British outfit was coming to an end.
Dunbar, who turns 26-years-old in one month's time, has signed a three-year deal with the team, which will bring him up to the end of the 2025 season. The move was well flagged, with media reports linking him to both BikeExchange-Jayco and to Jumbo Visma.
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The Banteer man was an exceptional performer on the Irish scene when starting out and regularly won elite races as a junior, often with long-range breakaways. He was 2nd in the junior Nations Cup race Trofeo Karlsberg in 2014, later upgraded to victory after the winner tested positive.
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His big breakthrough came in 2017 when he won U23 Tour of Flanders. Since then he has performed very solidly in many races - with his climbing attacks having emerged as the most dangerous of his skills.
He has long been overdue some victories in the pro bunch and finally hit those heights earlier this year in Italy and Hungary. Looking ahead to the remainder of this season, Dunbar is hopeful of a ride in La Vuelta with Ineos Grenadiers, though competition for places will be fierce.
Dunbar began racing with O'Leary Stone Kanturk as a youth and junior rider and in his first year at U23-elite level he raced with British Continental team NFTO. He then went to US-based Axeon Hagens Berman for the 2016 and 2017 seasons.
In 2018 Dunbar joined Irish ProContinental team Aqua Blue Sport and with it ceased operations suddenly in August of that year he was signed for Team Sky - now Ineos Grenadiers - for the remainder of that campaign. He remains with the team to the present day.
While it was hoped he could become part of their Grand Tour line-ups and get some chances to target results of his own, Dunbar has only ridden one Grand Tour with the team - Giro d'Italia back in 2019. However, his move to BikeExchange-Jayco will ensure he gets more chances to ride bigger races and more opportunities to target his own results.
