Ineos Grenadiers has named its Giro d'Italia line-up, with Irishman Eddie Dunbar not included in the selection. Though Dunbar won the recent Coppi e Bartali overall, from his team mate Ben Tulett, he will have to wait a little longer for a hoped-for second Grand Tour appearance with the British team.
As expected, Richard Carapaz (28) will lead the team into the Giro and Tulett, though he is aged 20 years, is also picked; in what is his first season with Ineos Grenadiers but his third as a professional.
Also selected are: Jonathan Castroviejo (35), Jhonatan Narváez (25), Richie Porte (37), Salvatore Puccio (32), Pavel Sivakov (24) and Ben Swift (34).
Dunbar (25), who joined Ineos Grenadiers in mid 2018, is in his fourth full season with the team. He is soon due to have his contract renewed or leave for pastures new as his current deal expires at year end.
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He last rode a Grand Tour in 2019 when he competed in the Giro and took 22nd overall on debut and 3rd on a stage. He was expected to ride La Vuelta last year but unfortunately contracted Covid-19, which took him out of his last preparation race and saw him miss the Spanish Grand Tour.
Irish cycling fans will be very disappointed by Dunbar's absence from the Giro line-up, especially as he has been riding so well this year and taken his first pro victory in recent weeks. However, there are still two Grand Tour opportunities later in the year, in the shape of the Tour and Vuelta.
While it will be very hard to gain a place on the Ineos Grenadiers team for the Tour, an appearance at La Vuelta is more likely for the Irishman. Team selection for that event is wide open - for all of its riders and in terms of how it will approach the race - due to Egan Bernal missing the season to date following his life-threatening crash early this year.
Carapaz said he was looking forward to going back to the Giro, which he won overall with a fantastic performance during his time at Movistar. He said that win in 2019 was a very important one for him and his home country of Ecuador, where he is a national hero having also won the Olympic road race last year.
“A great characteristic strength that we have in this team is that we’re all in for winning the Giro d’Italia," he said. "Every (member of the team) knows this is the goal, we all have that in common and want to deliver. I think when you have a team that is all behind the same goal, and with a team of riders who are so strong, who are ready to help each other, that is a real strength.”
