Eddie Dunbar, third from left, has had an eventful start to his 2016 racing season. The young Corkman was up the road in Portugal on Sunday and riding strongly when he crashed on a descent.
By Brian Canty
Eddie Dunbar was lucky to come away unharmed on Sunday after crashing on a cobbled section during the second stage of the GP Liberty Seguros Trofeu Alpendre (2.2)
The Axeon Hagens Berman rider was up the road in a break of six and feeling strong when he hit a hole on a bend and suffered a blowout, catapulting him off the bike.
Luckily for him, he escaped injury after hitting the deck hard.
At that point, he and his fellow escapees were 1’30” ahead of a group of around 40 riders, with his teammates well-represented and under no obligation to ride.
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It had been a furious opening 100 kilometres of racing with little managing to escape off the front.
That was until Dunbar and company eventually snapped the elastic going over the top of the day's first climb.
“My legs are strong but I crashed with 70 kilometres to go,” he told stickybottle from Portugal.
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“I was in a group of six that had a 1’30” on group but I hit a hole, my tyre blew up going around cobble bend and I went flying!
“Luckily, I'm fine, I just hit the floor hard.”
He was eventually re-absorbed by the bunch and when his teammates saw what had happened they ramped up the pace to catch the remaining five out front and set up strong men Tao Geoghegan Hart as well as Tyler Williams.
They were 18th and 15th, respectively, on the stage, with Williams finishing 8th overall at 12 seconds.
Canadian Will Routley (Rally Cycling) took stage honours but could only manage second overall, with Norwegian August Jensen (Team Co-Op OsterHuus) winning outright having won stage 1 in a sprint from a reduced peloton.
Dunbar finished 68th at 16:12 and was 55th overall at 16:25.
“It was full on carnage for us today,” Axeon Hagens Berman Assistant Director Jeff Louder said.
“Eddie messed up his hand but was able to finish and Colin (Joyce) may have broken a rib. Both will need to go to the hospital.”
Assuming he is given the all clear, Dunbar resumes racing on Wednesday in the five-day stage race, Volta Alentejo, also in Portugal.
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