Eddie Dunbar with Team Sky's young gun Tao Geoghegan Hart in Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Sean Kelly says Dunbar has the talent. Kelly clearly believes Dunbar will learn more in the peloton in major races than he will in the breakaways.
Sean Kelly and Eddie Dunbar sing same tune on tactics
He may not have been in the breakaway this time around, but Eddie Dunbar put in a very solid ride to even finish Liège-Bastogne-Liège on Sunday.
Aged just 21 years, this was only the second WordTour race of his career. His debut came the previous weekend at Amstel Gold when he made the race-long breakaway.
Last Sunday he finished 106th, coming home in a small group 14:32 behind race winner Bob Jungels (QuickStep).
There were 132 finishers on the day, with 43 men abandoning during the 258.5km race from Liège to Ans.
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One Irish legend with nine monuments to his name, Sean Kelly, believes Dunbar needs to continue to ride like he did on Sunday.
Kelly, a two-time winner of Liège-Bastogne-Liège, said he was looking forward to seeing how Dunbar would ride in the future without going in the breakaways.
He said he needed to stay in the peloton and learn to ride the finals of the major races.
“We did see him in the Amstel when he went in that breakaway very early,” Sean Kelly said.
“And it’s almost guaranteed the breakaway is not going to survive… with the breakaway (in classics) it’s always very, very difficult to see it succeeding.”
He believed Dunbar would better test himself and learn more by staying in the peloton.
“I think he has the talent,” continued Sean Kelly of Dunbar.
“And he needs to hold back a bit. If you go into the breakaway you put in so much work at the front.
“But back in the peloton if you sit back in 20th place you can get carried along.
“And the amount of energy you conserve in the first 150km is enormous.
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“That’s why with the big favourites; you never see them in the early part of the race.
“They spring into action 50 to 60 kilometres from the finish; that’s when they start really appearing on our TV screens.
“So for Eddie; that’s what he’s got to do. He has to learn how to ride the final of a race.
“He’s only 21 years old so he has a lot of years ahead of him. But he still has to start doing that at some point.”
Interestingly, Dunbar himself said virtually the same thing as Kelly when interviewed by his own team Aqua Blue Sport before the start on Sunday.
In what many Irish cycling fans will see as very wise words, Dunbar said his pre-race plan was to keep a lid on his aggression until the final; that vital last hour or so of racing.
“From a personal point of view; I want to enjoy the experience of taking part in a race like this,” he said.
“Being in the company of the best riders in the world is going to be an experience in itself. I’m going to enjoy it and see how far I can get into the final.
“In a race like this; obviously it’s a good place to start. And hopefully it will stand to me in the future.
“I think last week I showed I could go in the break and be strong and last the distance.
“But I think this week it’s important for me to get the experience of being in the bunch and see how the bigger guys race.
“(It’ important) to see the race for a different view rather than from the front. Obviously it would be nice to see it from the front at the end.
“But I think if I can learn something from this week it would be… seeing it from the peloton’s perspective rather than the breakaway’s perspective.”
While Dunbar was not at the front of the race towards the end; he did record a finish.
He now has two big monuments under his belt; vital for his long term future but also for the races in the weeks and months ahead.
He is also clearly thinking along the same lines as Sean Kelly. In doing so he is resisting the urge of the aggression that comes naturally to him - and is so exciting to watch.
And that bodes very well for the future.
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