Eddie Dunbar has made a strong start to the Tour of the Alps, where he was aggressive on the front of the opening stage before finishing in the main group of favourites after 161km of racing.
The young Irishman looked in fine form, especially in the closing stages, as he went on the attack within the final 15km and was on the front again with 3km go, lining out the remains of the bunch on a climb.
The stage took the riders from Cles to Primiero San Martino di Castrozza and included the cat 2 ascent of Passo Brocon, crested with about 60km to go, followed by some smaller, but grippy, climbs.
Geoffrey Bouchard (AG2R Citroën) claimed a well-deserved stage win when he went in the early breakaway, which gained seven minutes at one point. The Frenchman dropped most of his fellow escapees on the Passo Brocon before shaking off the last of them on the cat 3 Gobbera with about 25km to go.
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At that point Dunbar’s Ineos Grenadiers were riding on the front of the peloton two minutes back the road. With some testing short ramps to contend with in the closing stages – including a final 12km finishing circuit – it looked like Bouchard would be caught.
His advantage continued to tumble and with about 12km to go, as the peloton came through the finish line for the final lap, the gap was well under one minute.
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Dunbar attacked at that point and pulled clear a small group of about five riders that also included Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious). However, while the Irishman drove hard on the front of the group, they were caught by the thinned out peloton with about 10km to go.
A little later, with about 3km to go, Dunbar hit the front of the peloton and drove hard, stringing them out. His turn, confirming great form after his recent Coppi e Bartali overall win, wiped out most of what remained of Bouchard’s advantage. And when Dunbar’s team mate, Richie Porte, put in a couple of digs in the final 2km, it looked like Bouchard would be caught.
However, having won the climbers' classification in both the Giro and Vuelta in the last three years, he proved impossible to overhaul and hung on for victory by just five seconds.
Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-Victorious) won the sprint for 2nd place from Romain Bardet (Team DSM) at the front of a group of just 18 riders all credited with the same time, some five seconds off the winner.
Dunbar – despite his work in the finale – was among that 18-rider group to keep his GC challenge very much alive. Four seconds behind him, Hugh Carthy (EF Education-EasyPost) led in the next group – some 21 riders.
Tomorrow’s stage is a very lumpy 154km into Lana. And though the first uphill finish of this race does not come until Thursday, all of the terrain is hard and should suit the in-form Dunbar buoyed by his recent first pro win.
