"I wanted to ride hard and aggressive; from the front and leaving nothing in the tank"

Eddie Dunbar during his dominant performance yesterday when he spent 100km on a lone breakaway to take the A3-Junior event at the Des Hanlon Memorial in Carlow (Photo: Brendan Slattery)

By Brian Canty

Eddie Dunbar demolished the field in the A3-Junior race at the Des Hanlon Memorial Classic in Co Carlow yesterday, spending well over 100 kilometres out front by himself.

The O’Leary’s Stone Kanturk rider crossed the line over four minutes ahead of Michael O’Loughlin (Nicolas Roche performance Team) in second, with third place going to Limerick CC rider Stephen Shanahan.

The A3-Junior scene is thriving at present, with bumper numbers turning out in every race. And yesterday it was the turn of Dunbar to once again illustrate why he is one of the most talked-about riders to emerge for quite a while.

The 17-year-old Leaving Cert student follows a long line of talented juniors to emerge from the north Cork town of Kanturk; with the Lynchs - Denis and Daniel - Barry Meade, the Dennehys and Willie Curtin among those who have at various times dominated the U18 category.

And Dunbar is now in his second year of assuming that role with apparent ease.

Yesterday, he was relentless in his attacking from the drop of the flag and by the time the road kicked up left on the approach to the first climbers’ prime of the day he was alone.

Though he wondered about the wisdom of that move, he drew on his experience of doing similar rides by himself throughout last year and during his U16 days.

He pressed on over the two laps and though he stretched his lead to more than five minutes at one stage, that began to tumble as the race wore on.

Behind, a five-man chase group had formed with O’Loughlin and Shanahan in there as well as Dunbar’s team mate Dylan O’Brien, Ryan Reilly (Foyle CC) and Darnell Moore (Caldwell cycles).

But with O'Brien not obliged to work, the chase perhaps lacked the firepower to close in on the lone leader.

Dunbar didn’t have it as stress-free up front as other days when he punctured on the descent before the climb up to the Butts, losing time as he battled to control the bike.

He then lost more time in getting a wheel change, and again when his chain slipped off.

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He remained cool, however, and with his long-time mentor and coach Danny Curtin in the car behind, it was a case of doing what needed to be done, and driving on.

“The last lap I punctured on the descent onto the last climb. I did about half the lap on the flat (tyre) but I was going down the hill and it felt a bit bumpy so I knew I had a puncture,” Dunbar said of his mishap.

“So I called Danny up but he didn’t panic. He just asked me what wheel I had flatted, I told him it was the back wheel.

“So he drove on, went around the corner, took out a spare wheel and had it ready to go on the bike when I came around so we didn’t lose any time. I had to stop again to put the chain on, but he wasn’t stressing over it too much and neither was I.”

That happened with around 10 miles to go and Dunbar joked that he was as unsure yesterday as he ever is when Curtin gives him time gaps on the road.

“I was delighted to get the win. I never knew how much of a time gap I had, Danny was telling me about 2.30 but the lads on the bikes were telling me it was about three and a half. So I just went for it and made sure to leave nothing in the tank.

“I wanted to ride hard and aggressive and from the front. But when I got away I was a bit surprised. I was kind of hoping a group would come across to me because it’s a long race and you must give it respect.

“But I had done those long ones before. My legs were killing me at the start of the first lap but they came around eventually.

“I just spun the gears. That’s the easiest way to do it; I had a 50 x 14 on, a good bit under the junior gears and with those on I always feel like I’ve a lot left in my legs.

“I just want to be in as good a shape as possible for next week,” he added, referring to riding a stage race in France with team mate O’Brien.