Eddie Dunbar was brought into Team Jayco AlUla two years ago in a bid to kick-start his career again after the Sky-Ineos years, and to take big results; which he did in some style towards the end of the 2024 campaign.
Though the Australian World Tour team took many victories this year, including at the Tour de France, the team's managers having singled out Dunbar's performance at La Vuelta - winning two stages - as a huge highlight of the year.
That success came via a powerful late attack from a breakaway on stage 11 to Campus Tecnológico Cortizo Padron and by riding away from the select group on the Picón Blanco summit finish to stage 20. They were among the team's 25 wins, with 12 riders, through the season, with Dunbar's achievements clearly lapped up by management.
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“Summarising a season is always hard because it’s such a long journey over 10 months of racing," said director of high performance and racing, Matt White. But one thing we can be very proud of this year is our young riders, we’ve had a lot of new guys step up this year and 12 different winners out of the 30 riders.
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"Twenty five wins is the most victories we’ve had in five years, and they were spread out and varied over the season. It’s hard to pick out a standout result, but probably because it’s still fresh in my memory, the double victories of Eddie Dunbar at the Vuelta have to be noted, definitely.
"Dylan Groenewegen’s win at the Tour de France as the national champion of the Netherlands was a highlight, it’s always special winning at the Tour. Also, Simon Yates’s crucial win on the final stage to take the overall victory in AlUla is one we won’t forget, that’s for sure."
The team's general manager, Brent Copeland, also picked Dunbar's Vuelta stage wins as a high point for Jayco AlUla this year.
"Of course, winning at the highest level is always the main goal, and Dylan and Eddie’s wins at the Tour de France and La Vuelta are huge highlights for us this year," said Copeland. "We also came very close in two monuments with Michael Matthews.
"It is not only the results this season but the way the team has worked through adversity and the great teamwork between riders and staff, this gives us a lot of confidence and motivation for 2025 and beyond as we continue to grow as an organisation."
