Eddie Dunbar gets his three-new tenure with Team Jayco AlUla underway today, Wednesday, at Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana (2.Pro) after the last 4½ seasons as an Ineos Grenadiers/Team Sky rider.
The 26-year-old is building towards leading his new team at Giro d'Italia in May and the next five days of racing will provide plenty of climbing challenges - starting immediately - to test the Cork rider's early season form. He will also face some stern opposition, though the very top tier of general classification riders is absent.
Aleksandr Vlasov and Lennard Kämna are in the Bora-hansgrohe team while Jumbo Visma has double Giro stage winner Koen Bouwman along with Sam Oomen and promising young British rider Thomas Gloag. Ineos Grenadiers has a strong line-up; Thymen Arensman, Tao Geoghegan Hart and Carlos Rodríguez in that selection. UAE Team Emirates will look to Marc Soler and Brandon McNulty while Bahrain-Victorious has Tour Down Under stage winner Pello Bilbao as well as Mikel Landa, Damiano Caruso and Gino Mäder.
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Dunbar's team is comprised of Lawson Craddock, Callum Scottson, Alessandro de Marchi, Tsgabu Grmay, Welay Hagos Berhe and Blake Quick.
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Today's stage 1 takes the riders 189.4km from Orihuela to Altea via the Coll de Rates and the Puerto de Bernia before the long descent into the finish, where regrouping should take place after the final climb.
Tomorrow's stage should be more decisive in establishing a pecking order for the general classification 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 at 11km. While it averages just three percent, the final 3km is about twice that.
Saturday's stage 3 to El Santuario de la Cueva Sant also features an uphill finish, with the final climb to the line some 7.4km averaging 4.7 per cent gradient on a stage with 3,600m of elevation gain. The final stage on Sunday, into Valencia, features two climbs though they are a long way from the finish and the stage is expected to finish in a bunch sprint.
