The result of the opening stage, with groups scattered well down the road gives the event in Portugal the look of a Rás-style race, which Dunbar had predicted. Above, August Jensen from Norway took the stage and the first leader's jersey of the race.
Eddie Dunbar was hoping his first race of the year, a two-day in Portugal, would split up on the climbs, but at the end of the first stage he will be glad to be still in one piece.
A huge crash in which dozens of riders came down on the opening stage of the GP Liberty Seguros Troféu Alpendre meant the racing was stopped for almost 40 minutes.
And such was the need for ambulances to bring the injured off to hospital that when the racing restarted the organisers were forced to neutralise the action for 10km.
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They had to wait until other ambulances could join the cavalcade and fill the compulsory quota of medical personnel at the UCI 2.2 ranked event.
Dunbar managed to avoid the spill, though one of his team mates came down.
Such was the number of riders involved in the crash about 50km into the stage that the racing was halted for almost 40 minutes. It was then neutralised for 10km until more ambulances could join the cavalcade to replace the medical personnel who had taken the injured to hospital.
In the end, despite the presence of a couple of cat 3 climbs along the 154 route starting and finishing in Vila Nova de Cacela, the action came down to a bunch sprint.
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It was won by August Jensen, from Norway and riding for Team Coop–ØsterHus.
Dunbar came home in the main field in the same time was the winner, placing 55th on the day.
There were 65 riders in the main bunch, with another 60 men some 9 minutes down and the remainder of the field scattered 35 minutes back the road.
So while the head of the race did not fragment in a way that would have suited Dunbar, it was far from an easy stage.
The second and concluding leg on Sunday is 189km starting and finishing in Lagoa. And while the biggest climb is again a cat 3, the course is undulating.
Riding for Axeon-Hagens Berman, Dunbar's team mate Rúben Guerreiro is the defending champion having won the race on home soil 12 months ago.
GP Liberty Seguros - Troféu Alpendre
Mar 12th & 13th: Portugal, UCI 2.2
Stage 1: Vila Nova de Cacela-Vila Nova de Cacela (154km)
1 Jensen, August (Team Coop – ØsterHus) 3:00:33
2 Moncorge, Pierre (Team Bliz-Merida)
3 Garcia, Vicente (Louletano - Hospital de Loulé)
4 Caldeira, Samuel (W52-FC Porto-Porto Canal)
5 Ezquerra, Jesus (Sporting Clube de Portugal-Tavira)
6 Olsen, Andreas (Team Coop - ØsterHus)
7 Silva, Rafael (Efapel)
8 De La Fuente, David (Sporting Clube de Portugal-Tavira)
9 Mendon, Ça Luis (Efapel)
10 Mestre, Daniel (Efapel)
55 Dunbar, Edward (Axeon Hagens Berman) all same time
General Classification
1 Jensen August (Team Coop-Oster Hus), 3hrs00mins23s
2 Pierre Moncorgé (Bliz-Merida) @ 4secs
3 Rafael Silva (Efapel)
4 Daniel Mestre (Efapel) @5
5 Vicente García de Mateos (Louletano-Hospital de Loulé) @6
6 Rúben Guerreiro (Axeon-Hagens Berman) @7
7 Samuel Caldeira (W52-FC Porto) @8
8 Luís Mendonça (Sicasal/Constantinos-UDO) @9
9 Jesús Ezquerra (Sporting-Tavira) @10
10 Andreas Sandnes Olsen (Team Coop-Oster Hust)
56 Dunbar, Edward (Axeon Hagens Berman) @10
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