Ireland's Eddie Dunbar storms to U23 Tour of Flanders victory
Eddie Dunbar has won the U23 Tour of Flanders in Belgium this afternoon with a sublime solo effort.
By Brian Canty
Ireland's up and coming star Eddie Dunbar has announced his name on the world stage. He has taken victory in the U23 Tour of Flanders.
The 20-year old Corkman came across the finish line on his own after a punishing 168-kilometre contest. The race featured some of the best young riders in the world.
He was in a three-man breakaway inside the final 20 kilometre. But when he left his compatriots for dead he put his head down.
And he stayed away all the way to the line in one of the sport’s true heartlands - Oudenaarde.
For Eddie Dunbar it’s a result that surpasses anything he’s done in his career so far. And there have been considerable achievements by him to date.
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Just last weekend he was second overall in the Triptyque des Monts et Châteaux. And he’s been to the fore in the Volta Ao Alentejo already this year.
In 2016, his first year in the paid ranks, he had a number of gutsy rides. They were pockmarked by a few victories, such as his An Post Rás win.
But nothing comes close to today’s win. He was in a field packed with international class.
And he was racing on a course that featured 18 climbs and nine sections of brutal pavé.
Dunbar was alongside fellow Kanturk man Darragh O’Mahony today in the Irish team.
Also in the team were Matthew Teggart (An Post-Chain Reaction), Daire Feeley (UC Monaco) and Michael O’Loughlin (Team Wiggins).
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Each of those has of plenty international experience. So they came into the race rightly believing they had a chance of a result.
In Dunbar, they had a trump card. The race tackled the infamous Muur, Oude Kwaremont and the Taaienberg.
Dunbar was well positioned when the early break of Martin Palm (Team Wallonie) and Masaki Yamamoto (Japan) was mopped up with just less than 100 kilometres to go.
There followed a real whittling-down process with Eddie Dunbar still very much in the thick of it.
He waited until around the 30-kilometre to go mark before letting fly with a searing attack.
Only Norwegian Tobias Foss and Frenchman Alexys Brunel could follow.
They all shared the work for a spell and managed to extend their lead over the reduced bunch.
They had nearly a minute with one lap of the finishing circuit remaining.
But on the last ascent of the Eikenberg with less than 20 kilometres to go, Dunbar sensed he could go alone.
Though he attacked, Brunel went with him.
That duo rode for around 10 kilometres before Dunbar upped the pace again.
And this time the Frenchman couldn’t respond.
From there to the finish Ireland’s Dunbar pinned his ears back and crossed the line solo to win.
Such a large victory is surely going to see him move on from the Continental ranks sooner rather than later.
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