His team said his going in the breakaway today wasn’t the plan, but Eddie Dunbar made it up the road for the second day running anyway.
And his aggression meant he was in a perfect position to aid
team leader Pavel Sivakov when he needed help back the road to stay with the
general classification men.
Conor Dunne (Israel Cycling Academy) finished in a large group
some 48:53 down; all of whom wisely stayed together in an operation to simply
get through the day.
In the end Dunbar ended the day in 35th place,
some 17:10 down on stage winner Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha Alpecin).
The Russian scored an excellent solo victory having been in the early breakaway which numbered more than 20 riders and included Ireland’s Dunbar.
That escape group was kept on a much tighter leash than the large move of yesterday which gained 15 minutes at one point and from which Dunbar scored 3rd on the stage.
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The presence of riders like Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) and Zakarin up the road on today's stage 13 saw Jumbo-Visma and UAE Team Emirates ride in the peloton to ensure the gap to the escape was kept at well under three minutes.
When the racing moved onto the Colle del Nivolet long final
climb, the breakaway split to pieces and Zakarin rode even the strongest of his
fellow escapees off his wheel.
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Mikel Nieve (Mitchelton-Scott) also hung on from the
breakaway to take 2nd place, some 35 seconds down.
After him, Mikel Landa (Movistar) came through for 3rd
having attacked the favourites group on the final climb and gained time.
Richard Carapaz (Movistar) and Mollema were 4th and 5th at 1:38 and 1:45 respectively.
Then came Rafal Majka (Bora-hansgrohe), coming through from the favourites group for 6th and gaining 50 seconds on some big names.
They include Primoz Roglic (Jumbo Visma) and Vincenzo Nibali
(Bahrain-Merida); 7th and 8th at 2:57 and both 50 seconds
down on Majka.
After them, just 37 seconds down on the two most fancied men
for the overall, was Team Ineos’s Sivakov.
It was a great ride by the 21-year-old, who had help from Eddie Dunbar at a vital time of the race when he was battling to hold the biggest guns.
Jan Polanc (UAE Team Emirates) put in a great ride to hang onto his race lead, though his advantage over 2nd place Roglic was halved to just over two minutes.
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