By Shane Stokes
Eddie Dunbar has given his first reaction to the fall which took him out of the Vuelta a España, saying that he was left with little choice other than to withdraw from the race due to mounting injuries.
“I don’t know what happened, really,” he said. “I went around the corner and my two wheels went. That was it, game over. Three crashes in five days isn’t a good recipe to have a good Grand Tour, I guess.”
Dunbar fell twice during the opening team time trial on Saturday, being one of six riders who hit the deck on the approach to a right hand bend during the waterlogged test. He then pushed on towards the end in a bid to spur his team on, but fell once again.
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These two impacts saw him lose time on Monday’s first summit finish and then Tuesday’s stage to Tarragona. His team told Stickybottle he was taking the race day by day, and was ‘trying to recover from the crashes on stage one,’ and from what it termed ‘a rough start to the race.’
Wednesday’s fall compounded the earlier injuries, with team medic Dr Dani Castillo saying that the impact of the latest crash was to the same area of the body as the other falls. He said that meant the Corkman couldn’t continue, although he confirmed that Dunbar did not sustain any fractures.
While he said he was unable to ride at present, he indicated that he would be okay after rest and good treatment.
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Dunbar indicated he wants to return to competition this season. He plans to “go home, recover a bit…there is still some racing left.”
It remains to be seen what his schedule will be. This will be influenced by the speed of his recovery, and by what events his team will be riding.
In theory he could get in another stage race, but few remain at this time of the year. Single day events appear to be the most likely focus.
Speaking before the start of the Vuelta, he outlined what he envisaged doing after the Spanish tour.
“All going well, hopefully everything will go smoothly and I stay upright, I’ll do a couple of those Italian races after the Vuelta,” he said then. “Then probably finish the season in Lombardia. So nice races to do and obviously a nice way to finish the season as well, doing a monument.”
He rode the Il Lombardia Classic twice in the past, both times while in the service of Ineos Grenadiers team leaders. He was 41st in 2020 and 87th in 2021, six days after a heavy crash in the national championships.
However those results are not a reflection of his talents as a rider.
This time around he is a team leader in his own right and providing he can return to training soon, will hope that the hard work he did in advance of the Vuelta a España could translate into a strong end of season.
