Eddie Dunbar has been named by Team Jayco AlUla among its line-up for Vuelta a España, which gets underway in Lisbon, with a stage 1 individual TT, on Saturday.
The Irish rider, now aged 27 years, has been named among a strong team selection and will get a chance to show what he can do over three weeks after the disappointment of the Giro back in May, when he made an early exit.
Dunbar also goes into this race in the knowledge that the biggest stage race riders in the world are not taking to the start line, making it one of the most open Vuelta's for many years.
And that should really encourage the Irish rider towards trying to repeat or better his 7th overall finish at the Giro last year, and hopefully have the opportunity to take a stage victory.
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Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) and Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) will not be on the start line and their absence really opens up the general classification.
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Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) would be an obvious favourite in the absence of the top three from the Tour de France, though it is not absolutely certain he will start. He withdrew from the Tour de France just after the halfway point, not starting stage 13, after suffering crash injuries.
The Slovenian has not raced since then, though he was expected to line out in the weekend's San Sebastian Klasikoa. The fact he did not start on Saturday has called into question his recovery and condition after fracturing vertebrae during the Tour.
However, though the biggest names are either confirmed non-starters or a major doubt, defending champion Sepp Kuss (Visma Lease a Bike) will be back to defend his Vuelta title. He missed the Tour de France due to illness but bounced back last week with overall victory at Vuelta a Burgos (2.Pro).
Dunbar is part of a Team Jayco AlUla line-up that also includes Alessandro De Marchi, Felix Engelhardt, Filippo Zana, Welay Hagos Berhe, Callum Scotson and Chris Harper.
Many of the teams have not yet confirmed their line-ups so the true extent of the general classification challenge facing Dunbar is not absolutely clear. However, it is already certain this will be a much more open race, and that should bring opportunities for the Irish climber.
