Eddie Dunbar in the yellow jersey of the Junior Tour of Ireland currently underway in Co Clare. The teenager looks to be headed in the footsteps of his neighbour Paidi O'Brien having already won the support of the An Post-Chainreaction team. They have begun supplying him with kit, including this team-issue Vitus bike (Photo: Stephen McMahon - Sportsfile)
Those watching the domestic cycling scene in recent years will know the name of Banteer teenager Eddie Dunbar very well.
Last year, the minute he graduated from youth racing to the junior ranks he immediately assumed the role he had played as an U16; attacking from the gun in virtually every race he rode and winning a huge number of events in that fashion.
His two biggest wins in that season as a first-year junior were two stages in the Junior Tour and the final yellow jersey, after a really dominant display.
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And while not renowned as a time trial rider - simply because his road performances put his time trialling in the shadows - he was also crowned national time trial champion.
In the current season, Dunbar has been rampant again, simply sweeping all before him. And barring incident he looks set to win the Junior Tour again when it concludes this Sunday.
He sits at the top of the leader board thanks to another swashbuckling display on stage 2 when he left the field for dead and won solo by three minutes.
He rode an early breakaway off his wheel. The last man to let go was none other than the US junior national road champion, whose team rode at the front of the peloton trying to peg Dunbar back only for the gap to open.
He has also finished second against the elites in the Shay Elliott Memorial, Ireland's hardest and most prestigious race outside the national road race championships.
And abroad he has scored wins in Belgium and ridden very well in Nations Cup races in France and Germany, taking second overall in the Trofeo Karlsberg stage in Germany a few weeks ago when riding against a top flight international field.
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Given his prolific record it is no surprise that some professional teams would be interested in him, even though he will only be a first-year U23 rider next year.
It is traditionally a season of transition for even the best of young riders, when gaining experience rather than results is the order of the day.
It is great to see Dunbar has already secured the support of the Irish-registered and Irish-backed An Post-Chainreaction team; a Continental, or tier three squad, based in Belgium but which races all over Europe.
It is currently home to some of our most promising young riders including national senior road race champion, U23 time trial champion and world class time trial rider Ryan Mullen.
Other really strong young guns in the squad include Sean Downy, Jack Wilson, Conor Dunne and Marcus Christie.
It looks like Dunbar will join them on the basis that the team has begun to support him with kit and bikes. Dunbar has been seen this week riding one of the squad's team-issue Vitus mounts on the Junior Tour.
Support of that nature is a very strong indication in the cycling world that the team has taken a rider under its wing with a view to him joining up the following season, or in some cases the season after that.
Let's hope it all works out and that Dunbar is taken into the fold sooner rather than later.
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