Eddie Dunbar says he is looking forward to the coming season, when he would have more chances to target his own results and also set out a schedule of events over a long period that he could plan around.
"I'll just have a bit more freedom," he said of joining Team Jayco, speaking at the opening stage today of Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana today, where he finished in the bunch. "I can actually plan my racing, I can prepare well, I can plan the training, a proper training block, with my coach and just go into a race knowing I've done everything I can to be in the best shape I can be.
"And it's just having that ability to really knuckle down on a plan, which I haven't really had the last few years. I'm all good, the winter training has gone pretty well. Obviously, this is the first race in new colours so it's exciting. We have a good team here and we've a stage that suits everyone on the team, which is good too.
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"So it's going to be a pretty good race to start with and I think hopefully we can try and get some results over the next five days," he said, but added he wanted to time his first big peak to coincide with his first big goal.
"It I want to be good in May in the Giro I don't think I should be at my best here, so it's a matter of going through the motions here. Obviously, I'm going to try and be up there on GC and see where I'm at, and see what I need to work on. But it's about enjoying the race, enjoying the good weather and having some good racing, that's the main thing."
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Dunbar's predicted today's opening stage could be a day for a breakaway but would more likely result in a sprint from a reduced bunch. In the end, it was a sprint after 189.4km of racing into Altea.
Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) took his first win of the year, comfortably winning the sprint for victory from a 65-strong bunch. Another of the new generation of sprinters, 21-year-old Olav Kooij (Jumbo-Visma), was 2nd with Iván García Cortina (Movistar Team) in 3rd place. Dunbar rolled over the line near the back of the pack, but on the same time as the winner, in 60th place.
Tomorrow’s stage should see the general classification men coming out to play as the 178.2km of racing from Novelda finishes on the Alto de Pinos climb. The stage includes six climbs – with total elevation gain of almost 3,500m – and a final climb of 11km. While that climb up to the line averages just three percent gradient, the final 3km is about twice that.
