Eddie Dunbar and management at Team Jayco AlUla have both expressed their satisfaction at the outcome of stage 1 at the Giro d'Italia yesterday when the bunch was split after hectic pace-setting by UAE Team Emirates on the Maddalena, 21km from the finish of the 140km stage.
The word from inside the Australian team's camp is that Dunbar seems to have shaken off the sluggishness in his form in the last couple of weeks, including at Tour de Romandie, and was feeling much better on yesterday's opener.
Cork's Dunbar said while he went into the stage - which was much harder than conventional Grand Tour opening stages - a little concerned he may be caught out, that was not he case and he now felt quite positive.
"Eddie has passed the first stage with flying colours, with really good sensations finally back. So things are looking good on that front," said Team Jayco AlUla sports director Dave McPartland.
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"There were some surprises there with the GC guys, there's a guys there that have lost time already," he added of the likes of Romain Bardet (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL), Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) and some others.
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For his part, Dunbar said he was quite happy with how he felt on the stage, adding team rode as a strong unit to support him through what was something of a banana skin for the all the GC men.
"I was worried that I might lose a bit of time today, I wasn't feeling the best the last week. So it's not a bad start at all, coming in with that second group of GC guys. I think that's a positive day.
"The team rode really well, positioning us well. I think the same again tomorrow and we'll just build into the race."
Today's stage 2 is another when GC gaps could appear as the 161km stage from San Francesco al Campo to Santuario di Oropa finishes on a cat 1 climb of 11.8km, with an average gradient of 6.1 per cent.
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) will be looking to make up for being beaten to the stage win yesterday, in a three-up sprint, by both winner Jhonatan Narváez (Ineos Grenadiers) and runner-up Max Schachmann (Bora-hansgrohe).
