Having seen his general classification bid suffer a hammer blow on the uphill finish at La Vuelta on Monday's stage 3, Ireland's Eddie Dunbar was offering no excuses at the finish. The Team Jayco AlUla rider said he simply did not have the legs on the climb, but was very hopeful he would come good in the next few days.
He slipped out the rear of what was still a relatively large thinning down peloton with some 4km remaining, as Jay Vine of UAE Team Emirates pressed on the front. Dunbar got into serious trouble about halfway up the final climb of Arinsal - some 8.3kn averaging 7.7 per cent gradient - to conclude a finale of high altitude in Andorra.
And while he said he limited his losses as best he could, he still gave away 2:37 to most of the main general classification men, though other notable names also lost time. Geraint Thomas of Ineos Grenadiers conceded 47 seconds, for example, though still much less than Dunbar. The Irishman was blunt in his appraisal of how things had gone when he spoke after the stage.
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"Shit, yeah, that's the easiest way to describe it," Dunbar said when asked how he felt after the final climb, clearly able to make light of the situation after quickly rallying from the initial disappointment.
"It wasn't my best day on the bike. I suffered, a lot. I just tried limiting my losses really and hopefully I might come good in the next few days."
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While there was a headwind on the climb, which should - on paper - have made it easier to sit in the group, and take shelter in what should have been a slower pace, Dunbar said the final ascent, and the stage itself, was very hard.
"It's tough. When you're one of the teams who are riding on the front today it was a lot easier. In the middle of the peloton today (or) at the back, the accelerations were hard, you know. And that builds up over a 150k stage. So, yeah, maybe them guys were a bit fresher coming into the climb. But, as I said, I just don't have the legs at the moment."
Dunbar now sits down in 42nd overall, some 3:32 down on yesterday's stage winner, and new race leader, Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep). While that is a big time loss so soon in the race, it will perhaps give him the leeway to go in a breakaway, where he might get a shot at a stage win, as well as regaining some time.
After finishing 7th at Giro d'Italia back in May, Dunbar came into this race - which has a stacked general classification field - saying he was hoping for a top 10 overall. And while the time he lost yesterday damages his cause, a top 10 overall is still in play as long as he has just one bad day on the race, and it proves to be yesterday.
