Eddie Dunbar, seen here in the colours of his O'Leary Stone Kanturk club, is riding the Junior Tour of Wales this weekend for the Sesna Munster team, and made a brave bid for stage victory today.
By Brian Canty
Eddie Dunbar is best placed of the Irish after the opening two stages at the Junior Tour of Wales today, Saturday.
Dunbar, riding for the Munster Sensa team, said he didn’t feel good in this morning’s opening stage – a 7.2 kilometre time trial - but he did finish 11th, just over half a minute down on stage winner Sam Oomen of the TBC Pijnenburg team from Holland.
The Junior Tour of Ireland winner then put in a brilliant effort to finish fourth on this afternoon’s second stage – a brutal 45-mile trek featuring three sprint points and two KOHs.
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The last KOH was the finish line and it looked for long periods like Dunbar would take a solo win after he burst out of the peloton and rode solo for almost half the race before he was caught.
The finish line was atop a six-kilometre climb and Dunbar ran out of steam as the peloton closed in on him. The time loss he incurred was suffered in the final 500 metres when those who came around him sprinted for the line.
It could have been so different for Dunbar had he not had a teammate as loyal as Sean Hahessy, who offered him his wheel after the former broke two spokes when another rival crashed into him from behind in the early part of the race.
The drama didn’t end there for Dunbar, however, because when he tried to take his own back wheel out, a loose spoke impaled his hand in the chaos and he admitted that caused him agony before he eventually got Hahessy’s wheel in and re-joined the bunch.
But Dunbar is a tough operator and as soon as he did catch back on – Hahessy losing 22 minutes - he attacked and got away, staying clear for almost the rest of the race.
"I have to thank Sean today for what he did for me," said Dunbar.
"If he didn't give me that wheel I would have been out of the race. He lost a pile of time because of it but I hope I can pay him back before this weekend is out. The team were brilliant today and so were our managers Tom (Shanahan) and Kevin (Hayes)."
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The Munster Sensa team are riding very well and are second overall in the team standings. Dylan O’Brien is their next best man and he's right up there in 12th place overall. Danny Bruton is best of the Nicolas Roche Team just over three minutes down.
Tomorrow is another split stage, with a criterium in the morning and a 57-mile road race in the evening before Monday’s final stage of 60miles, which features an eight-kilometre climb.
Junior Tour of Wales, August 2th to 26th
Stage 1: Time Trial, 7.2km
1 Scott Davies Wales A 12:12
2 Sam Oomen TWC Pijnenburg (Holland) @1sec
3 Christopher Lawless Kuota - Spinergy @14
4 Matthew Gibson Velocity WD-40 @16
5 Gabriel Cullaigh RST Racing Team @18
6 Joe Evans Hargroves Cycles - Specialized @26
7 James Knox Champion System/Maxgear/Base @29
8 Stephen Williams Wales A @36
9 Gavin Shuttleworth Team ASL360 same
10 Thomas Baylis Mid Devon CC @37
11 Eddie Dunbar Sensa Munster @38
20 Dylan O'Brian Sensa Munster @52
30 Danny Bruton NRPT Standard Life @1:02
43 Stephen Shanahan Sensa Munster @1:13
49 Sean Hahessy Sensa Munster @1:22
82 Daragh Long NRPT Standard Life @2:21
86 Daragh Campbell Novo Nordisk Dev Team @2:27
92 David McCarthy NRPT Standard Life @2:49
Stage 2: Road Race 72kilometres
1 James Knox CHA 1:52:23
2 Scott Davies WAL @6secs
3 Sam Oomen TPH s/t
4 Eddie Dunbar SEN @16
5 Ben Chapman TDV @23
6 Ashley Dennis TDV s/t
7 Stelios Farantakis TPH @49
8 James Shaw FOR @55
9 Peter Cocker FOR @59
10 Jake Kelly IOM @1:00
11 Dylan O'Brian SEN @1:04
22 Stephen Shanahan @1:51
27 Danny Bruton NRP @2:06
51 David McCarthy NRP @3:25
73 Daragh Long NRP @7:16
85 Daragh Campbell NOV @13:03
94 Sean Hahessy SEN @22:09
General Classification after two stages
1 Scott Davies WAL 2:04:41
2 Sam Oomen TPH @1sec
3 James Knox CHA @23
4 Eddie Dunbar SEN @48
5 Ashley Dennis TDV @1:01
6 Ben Chapman TDV @1:17
7 Christopher Lawless KSG @1:21
8 Joe Evans HAR @1:26
9 James Shaw FOR @1:28
10 Jake Kelly IOM @1:36
12 Dylan O'Brian SEN @1:50
27 Stephen Shanahan SEN @2:58
29 Danny Bruton @3:02
58 David McCarthy @6:08
75 Daragh Long NRP @9:31
86 Daragh Campbell NOV @15:24
94 Sean Hahessy SEN @23:25
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