Eddie Dunbar has put in a strong ride in the finale of Tour de Suisse stage 2 today and has moved up the general classification as a result.
The Irishman, riding for Ineos Grenadiers, took it up on the final climb of the day with 8km to go. He put in a very big dig on the front, just after the last of the early breakaway men were caught. Dunbar strung out the field, which was already starting to split on the steep section of the climb.
Dunbar's efforts on that Litschstrasse ramp - a 2.4km ascent averaging 8.3 per cent - pulled a large front group of strongmen clear of what remained of the peloton.
And after he had done his turn, there were several attacks from some of the biggest names in the race. They were clearly intent on making the most of the climb in a bid to drop Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin Fenix).
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Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) was the most active and it was the world champion's attacks that did the biggest damage. Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) was straight onto him as were: Max Schachmann (Bora-hansgrohe), Ivan Garcia Cortina (Movistar) and Michael Woods (Israel Start-Up Nation).
Van der Poel was just behind that lead group near the top of the climb and eventually clawed his way onto the back of the leaders, with a number of other riders also getting across by the time the leaders finishing the climb.
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On the run in to the finish, Van der Poel attacked with 3.5km to go, with Scachmann eventually getting across to him. Jakob Fuglsang (Astana-Premier Tech) tried to get across but failed, though Wout Poels (Bahrain-Victorious) caught the two leaders just as the final sprint opened.
Van der Poel easily won that dash to the line to take a great win, by one second from Schachmann, with Poels 3rd at four seconds. Dunbar finished in 17th place on the stage. He was in a 16-man chasing group some 22 seconds down on Van der Poel after the field split to pieces, in sodden conditions, in the final 8km.
That result for Dunbar, combined with a solid ride on yesterday's opening TT stage, means the Irish climber is now 19th overall at 54 seconds. Yesterday's TT winner, Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) finished in the same group as Dunbar today and he retains the yellow jersey.
He now leads by just one second from Alaphilippe, with Scachmann 3rd at two seconds. Carapaz was 6th on the stage today just four seconds down. That means he is now 7th overall, at 13 seconds. And while Dunbar is clearly going well he may get roped into giving up his chance for Carapaz in the week ahead.
However, the Irishman not only rode very well on the final climb today, and inflicted significant damage, but was then able to hold his place in the chasing group. And that suggests he may be in good enough form to claim a GC result for himself in Switzerland, even if Carapaz is in contention to win the race.
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