Eddie Dunbar (Team Jayco AlULa) has moved himself into contention at Tour de Pologne after finishing in the select group sprinting for victory after a tough uphill finish of today's stage 2 to Karpacz.
The Irish rider bided his time well in the final 4km, on gradients of up to 15 per cent. When Matej Mohorič (Bahrain-Victorious) pulled the trigger with about 200m to go he had João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) on his wheel, followed by Dunbar who had just moved up to the front of the group.
However, while the effort of Mohorič saw him pull clear of the others with Almeida in tow, Dunbar lost a few lengths. Mohorič went on to win from Almeida and took the yellow jersey in the process after the time gaps were neutralised yesterday due to the stormy weather that battered the riders.
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Dunbar faded just a little in the final 200m today - perhaps needing a few more outings before he rediscovers his Giro legs - and eventually finished 8th on the stage, which was a tough uphill grind all the way to the line.
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The winner and runner-up today - Mohorič and Almeida - were quite evenly matched, though it was Mohorič who made the move and deserved the win. They put four seconds into the next eight-rider section of the group, with Michał Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers) leading them in from Oscar Onley (Team dsm-firmenich) and Ilan Van Wilder (Soudal-QuickStep).
Dunbar's team worked really well for him as the whittled down peloton sped into the base of the final climb. And once the road kicked up properly it was Rafał Majka (UAE Team Emirates) who attacked hard, with Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto Dstny) going after him.
Those two joined forces and built a gap of about 15 seconds on the rest of the group, though the final push to the line among the chasing riders saw the leading duo caught and passed with about 300-400 metres to go.
Once that catch was made, Mohorič made his strong and sustained final push for the line to win, with only Almeida able to follow. Mohorič now leads overall by four seconds from Almeida, thanks to the time bonus difference between 1st and 2nd on the stage today, with Kwiatkowski 3rd at 10 seconds.
Then comes the other seven riders who were in that small second group on the road today, all equal on time at 14 seconds; Dunbar among them and in 5th place overall. Sam Bennett and Ryan Mullen - both Bora-hansgrohe - were 117th and 127th today at 14:00 and 15:26 respectively.
There is more climbing to come on tomorrow's stage 3, some 162.3km from Wałbrzych to Duszniki-Zdrój, including a 7.8km cat 2 ascent close to the finish, followed by a decent and a kicker of 800m to the finish line.
