Eddie Dunbar grimaces on the Cow and Calf final ramp to the finish; the leader of his team today in Yorkshire. He said it's not in his mentality to settle for the position he now fills in the general standings (Photo: Karen M Edwards)
Irish cyclist Eddie Dunbar wants more in Yorkshire
After another ride that shows he is growing in stature in the pro game, Eddie Dunbar said he would have liked a bit more from today’s stage 2 at the Tour de Yorkshire.
The 149km stage into Ilkley concluded atop the 1.8km steep ramp of Cow and Calf.
And with the early breakaway brought back, the peloton hit the bottom of the climb intact. But once the road went up it blew to pieces.
The strong men swarmed at the front. And one of those was Irish cyclist Eddie Dunbar.
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As the climb progressed and more riders fell away, Dunbar doggedly stuck to the task.
The strongest of the front 20 to 25 riders had the legs for a sprint at the top of the climb, while the others buried themselves to hang on.
Magnus Cort Nielsen (Astana) won from Greg Van Avermaet (BMC), Eduard Prades (Euskadi-Murias) and Serge Pauwels (Dimension Data).
Those four were all on the same time; the splits of seconds here and there falling just behind them.
In the end Dunbar did well; he was better than most but not as good as some. He would take 12th, some 13 seconds back; a very strong ride from the 21-year-old Irish cyclist.
Pearson and Warbasse (Photos: KarenMEdwards)
The field tackled the Blacker Hill climb 29km into the stage. And then came a brace of ascents towards the end; Old Pool Bank with 18km remaining followed by the finishing climb.
Dunbar didn’t have a straightforward finale; a puncture with 40km to go throwing a challenge at him that he needed to overcome.
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But he kept his head and got back in to the bunch. He may have done slightly better but for having to expend that energy. And after the finish he said he’d hoped for more.
“I would have liked to creep into the top 10,” said the young neo pro. “I did puncture with about 40km to go and it took me a big effort to get back on.
“There’s never an ideal time to puncture but the pace was on all day today. And an effort like that to get back on isn’t ideal when you are finishing on a climb.
“Maybe if I didn’t puncture I would have made it into the top 10. But that’s just bike racing.
“Twelfth is OK but I’m never going to be really happy with 12th; it’s just not my mentality.
“But I felt good, and tomorrow the main goals are to be represented in the break. And to help Adam (Blythe) get up there for a stage result.
“Then we’ll see what happens on Sunday. It’s going to be super aggressive on Sunday.
“And I think that the winner will come from the block of guys who were in the top 20 today.”
Having finished well today, Dunbar is now 11th overall, at 23 seconds. His team mates Daniel Pearson and Mark Christian are 12th and 13th overall on the same time.
Saturday’s 184km third leg from Richmond to Scarborough features a couple of climbs but it should be a sprinters’ stage.
The race concludes on Sunday with 189.5km from Halifax to Leeds littered with climbs. There are six ascents in all, two in the final third of the race.
Having ridden well for 5th in the recent Volta Limburg – with 38 climbs – and been in the breakaway at Amstel Gold, not to mention finishing Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Sunday's profile will hold not fear for Dunbar.
And Pearson, who climbed very well at the Tour of Oman, believes Aqua Blue Sport can still have a say in this race’s outcome.
He said while the team worked for Dunbar today, it had a number of options over the coming weekend.
“Today was pretty solid,” he said of the team’s performance. “It was pretty nuts at the start.
“But once that break of four guys went everybody was pretty happy with that. We knew it was going to come back before the final climb.
“The plan was to work for Eddie and I was with him and Mark with about 3km to go.
“But I got cut off pretty badly and had to grab a handful of brake to avoid crashing. At that point it was full gas.
“And just as I got to the guys again everyone was on their limit. So it was just a question of getting over the line.
“I think we’re in a good position ahead of Sunday. Eddie and Mark are feeling strong. And we have a lot of cards to play. We’ll see what we can do.”
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