Eddie Dunbar takes the final stage at the Charleville Two Day A2-A3 race wearing the yellow jersey of race leader (Photo: www.jimmymcelroy.com)
By Brian Canty
Eddie Dunbar has made short work of the final stage of the Charleville Two-Day this afternoon, blasting his way to victory and retaining the race leader’s yellow jersey he claimed after a similar solo win yesterday.
His strong win today meant the O’Leary’s Stone Kanturk CC rider won both road stages and was 5th in the time trial this morning; continuing his build up to the World Championships in just over two weeks with some great form.
He rode the race the hard way today, perhaps in preparation for the Worlds as much as in pursuit of final yellow jersey this weekend.
Advertisement
This afternoon the riders raced a gruelling stage of 80 kilometres after the morning 6.1km time trial.
The road stage started in Charleville and climbed the brutal Glenanaar ascent twice before heading back to Ardpatrick and onto the finish five kilometres outside Charleville on the same stretch of road that played host to the morning test.
The climbing started almost immediately and after an intense period of early attacking by those highly placed overall, the first man to get away was Dunbar.
Related News
He launched some testing digs the first time up Glenanaar which saw the peloton behind blow to bits.
Dunbar crested the climb alone but a big group of around a dozen riders chased him down.
It contained many of the top 10 riders overall, including his three fellow internationals Dylan O’Brien (O'Leary's Stone Kanturk), Stephen Shanahan (Limerick CC) and Daire Feeley (Donamon Dynamos); though the latter had a mechanical and had to battle to regain contact.
That frantic chase to pull back Dunbar had the desired effect and he would be reeled in to leave 13 up front as they headed for the second and final lap, also featuring Glenanaar.
He would wriggle free again and pull out a lead of 20 seconds the second time up the climb as the group behind gradually became whittled back to nine.
Dunbar pressed on to the finish alone to take the stage, with a real battle for the minor placings behind, though there was no change overall, meaning UCD's Joseph Breheny took second, with Feeley rounding out the podium.
Dunbar's team mate Dylan O'Brien was second on the stage with the winner of this morning's time trial and third placed rider on yesterday's opening stage Paul O'Reilly (UCD CC) taking third; a man to watch after making a big impact in recent weeks.
We'll bring you full results when we have them, along with rider reaction.
Topics
