Team Jayco AlUla general manager, Brent Copeland, has suggested Eddie Dunbar may need some time before developing to the point where he could be a Grand Tour contender, confirming the Irishman would be team leader at Giro d'Italia in May.
The 26-year-old Irishman will go into the Grand Tour as protected rider, with Filippo Zana also set to be granted that status. Copeland said as the three-week race progressed, both riders would have a greater understanding of the challenges involved in trying to contend each day.
However, they would take a day-to-day approach, with no major set objectives; Copeland effectively saying they would have a free hand as they were supported by the team to help develop towards maximising their abilities for Grand Tours. It sounds like an approach that would leave Dunbar free to try for a stage win rather than be hemmed in by the need to ride purely for the overall.
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"We will bring a somewhat experimental team to Italy, which we will test our boys. We believe that Dunbar could be a rider capable of ranking in a Grand Tour, maybe not this year yet, but we believe in it a lot," said Copeland.
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"Filippo Zana will be with him, they will leave without specific objectives and day after day they will understand what their dimension will be in the three weeks," he added of Zanna, a 23-year-old Italian who won the national road race title last year and the overall at Adriatica Ionica Race (2.1).
Copeland told tuttobiciweb.it Simon Yates, Dylan Groenewegen and Michael Matthews were still the "three pillars" of the Australian World Tor team, as well as others who were new, or newer, to the set-up.
"There are many riders from whom we expect something good, including the new signings Eddie Dunbar and Filippo Zana, but also Lucas Hamilton, who was overwhelmed by serious physical problems this year, and Matteo Sobrero."
He added while Simon Yates "loves the Giro" it was decided he would go to the Tour de France this year, where Copeland believed he could challenge for a place on the podium. The relative lack of TT kilometres on the Tour route, and the fact some of the TT kilometres on the route were uphill, meant the Tour route was really suited to Yates.
