Eddie Dunbar showed his aggression at Brabantse Pijl today as his Ineos Grenadiers team mate Tom Pidcock took his first major professional win, beating Wout Van Aert (Jumbo Visma) in the final sprint after 202km.
Dunbar put in an attack on a drag with 51km to go and while those behind him immediately responded to his surge, the young Irishman did a lot of damage.
Pieter Serry (Deceuninck-Quick Step) was first to close down Dunbar and as he clawed his way onto the Irish rider's back wheel the gaps opened up in their wake.
Van Aert (Jumbo Visma) covered Serry’s effort and then behind them came a number of riders including Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo), Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Victorious), Michael Matthews (BikeExchange) and Tim Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers).
That made for a very strong little group going away from the peloton as there were two groups up the road; the breakaway at 1:42 and a chasing group some 53 seconds ahead of the bunch.
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A look back down
the field showed Dunbar had caused very significant damage, with gaps opening
everywhere and many riders’ faces strained.
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However, just
seconds after the Irish rider pulled the quality group clear, Kevin
Geniets (Groupama-FDJ) went on the
front behind and towed another group up before the peloton then rejoined and it
was all back together again with the big bunch lined out.
Dunbar then gathered himself for a moment and instantly
put in another huge attack, though Van Aert chased him down and brought him
back instantly.
The Jumbo Visma man, and Gent-Wevelgem winner, was clearly keen not to allow any Ineos Grenadiers rider up the road as it would excused the others in the team from the chase of the breakaway later in the race.
Dunbar would eventually finish 82nd, in a group 6½
minutes down but having played his part in his team’s second victory over the
cobbles this season; Dylan Van Baarle winning Dwars door Vlaanderen two weeks
ago.
The only other Irish rider in the race, Ryan Mullen of Trek-Segafredo, was a non finisher today on a day when the finishing circuit nature of the finale saw many riders abandon once their jobs were done.
With just under 40km to go there was a large crash in the bunch, which Dunbar thankfully avoided. Shortly after that incident Pidcock attacked on one of the cobble climbs and brought Van Aert and Matteo Trentin (UAE Team Emirates) with him off the front, as the gap to the breakaway was down to 40 seconds.
Van Aert, Trentin and Pidcock caught the chasing group
just ahead of them, making for a 17-man group in pursuit of the breakaway,
which it soon caught, before Trentin attacked on his own with just over 25km to
go.
On the final 22km lap of the finishing circuit, and after Trentin led solo for a period, the front group split and the final sprint came down to Pidcock, Van Aert and Trentin.
However, Trentin really paid for his late solo breakaway efforts in the sprint, leaving Pidcock and Van Aert to push clear of him with Pidcock comprehensively beating Van Aert to take his first big pro win.
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