Two of the most promising young riders on the Irish scene right now; Eddie Dunbar (left) and national road race champion Fintan Ryan in France at the weekend (Photo: Andréa Quémener)
By Brian Canty
Up and coming Irish junior international, Eddie Dunbar has said he was delighted to take a podium place at his first Nations Cup event in France at the weekend.
The O’Leary’s Stone Kanturk rider was a guest of the six-man Nicolas Roche Performance Team for the two-day, three-stage Trophee Morbihan Centre.
He took third place on the final stage of the race on Sunday, which was enough to see him finish 17th overall at 37 seconds.
The reigning Junior Tour of Ireland champion was up the road on both road stages.
And though he was reeled in on Saturday’s 97-kilometre leg, he escaped late on Sunday with a Belgian and an Italian and was third over the line, 15 seconds ahead of the bunch.
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“Yeah I was delighted with third place, not bad,” was his verdict on the race that saw him go clear of his breakaway companions and looked set for victory before the pair riding for their national teams got back up to him.
“They only caught me with 50 metres to go after I’d attacked them in the last kilometre because I knew I wouldn’t beat them in the sprint.
“I thought I had it. The Italian (Filippo Rochetti) brought me back. He was way too strong for me then in the sprint. He destroyed the other guy as well. I was still happy to get on the podium though.”
The stage itself was 70 kilometres followed by five nine-kilometre hilly loops, and it was there where Dunbar made his move.
“The 70k section had three climbs on rolly roads but we went over some roads that should have been categorised,” he said of the lumpy parcours.
“Then we got to the finishing circuit and the hills on that were just unreal,” he added. “They were short steep kick-ups and really hurt, riders were going out the back on every lap. That’s where the real racing was done.
“I tried going up the road after 10k and got away but they brought me back on the cat two climb,” he said of the early exchanges.
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“So I just stayed in the top 15 then until we hit the circuit. A break went up the road then, and the yellow jersey was isolated because there was a few contenders in the move.
“I was going to go across, but I said I’d bide my time and with a lap and a half to go the Italian went and I went straight after him.
“Then we caught a Belgian (Emiel Planckaert) up front. A German who was with us crashed so it was just the three of us riding flat out to the line.”
Though he would attempt a late smash and grab, the Italian overhauled him and took both in the sprint. A valuable learning experience for Dunbar and the team nonetheless.
“I was fierce disappointed in the time-trial on Saturday afternoon but it was my own fault, I didn’t check my back tyre and there wasn’t much air in it,” he said of the stage 2 race against the clock.
“I could nearly press it down to the rim and once you’re in the pit you can’t really change it. Not a hope would I have won, but the extra five or ten seconds might have put me in the top 15.”
Dunbar said he had had a break after the recent Kanturk Three Day and was hopeful of taking some good results in the next section of the season.
“The Europeans and the Junior Tour are the big goals now but I’d like to get to Holland or France,” he said.
“The team were great all weekend and they had things so well organised so big thanks to them and Danny (Curtin, coach) again for making it all happen.”
Dunbar with Nicolas Roche Performance Team manager Philip Finnegan before hostilities commenced at the weekend (Photo: Andréa Quémener)
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