Eddie Dunbar is back on track after the crash that forced him out of the National Road Race Championships in Co Wicklow last weekend. The young Ineos Grenadiers rider put in a strong showing today at Il Lombardia.
He joined the attacks off the front of the race just as the climbing phase of the Italian classic began. Dunbar eventually went on to finish in 87th after riding hard for his team.
Given his fall just six days ago, as well as a large group of Ineos Grenadiers having been active in the races in Italy over the last week, the fact Dunbar was selected by the team was a positive sign he had fully recovered from his crash.
The Irishman enjoyed some great form earlier in the year, especially at Tour de Suisse where he climbed with the top riders in the world and also won the young riders' classification.
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However, a bout of Covid-19 forced Dunbar to miss La Vuelta. To make matters worse, he was hit reasonably hard by the illness, as he told stickybottle in an interview this week. While he returned to ride the Worlds for Ireland last month, he said he knew he only had four hours in his legs and abandoned the race.
And while he initially feared he may have broken his shoulder during his crash in Ireland last week, he traveled to Italy as planned the following day and rode Milano-Torino on Wednesday. After finishing that race he was selected for today's 239km classic.
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Dunbar (25) and his team mates rode for Adam Yates today; the British rider going into the race as one of the main favourites after his 2nd place at Milano-Torino, behind Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma).
Dunbar was part of an aggressive approach taken by the team today from about the 90km to go marker. From that point, the team sent Pavel Sivakov, Tao Geoghegan Hart and Dunbar up the road in an effort to force the other fancied teams into chasing.
Dunbar was the first of his team mates to attack; moving towards the front of the bunch with about 95km to go and then lighting it up with an attack with about 85km remaining.
He put daylight between himself and the front of the bunch before being quickly joined by Andrea Bagioli (Deceuninck-QuickStep). And as that Irish-Italian duo pressed on there was a reaction in the bunch behind.
Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo-Visma) jumped across to the move, followed by one of the big favourites for the day, Michael Woods (Israel Start-Up Nation). As that action unfolded, Dunbar's team mate Sivakov did his best to deter attacks in pursuit of the Irishman's group.
However, when Roglič decided to join the fray and attacked after Dunbar's group, he was simply too big to be given any leeway. His surge forward provoked a counter reaction at the front of the bunch, ensuring Dunbar and those he was with were soon caught.
From that point, the Irishman was on team duties for Yates, though the British rider missed the key move of the day by Tadej Pogačar (UAE-Team Emirates) and Fausto Masnada (Deceuninck-QuickStep). They went clear on the Passo di Ganda climb some 35km from the finish and made it all the way; Pogačar winning the sprint for victory from his Italian rival.
Yates got himself into the seven-man chasing group, which finished 51 seconds down on the winner and runner-up. And when the British climber won the sprint from that group for 3rd place, it ended the day on a positive note for Dunbar and his team.
The young Irish rider can feel satisfied that after a bumpy ride in recent months he is ending the season having fully recovered; a positive position for him given the risks involved with crashing and having had Covid-19.
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