Eddie Dunbar takes best Vuelta result after breakaway ride | Video

Eddie Dunbar may not have been an obvious candidate for stage 15 at La Vuelta, but that didn't stop him getting up the road and taking his best result of this year's race, so far (Photo: Tommaso Pelagalli-Sprint Cycling Agency)

Eddie Dunbar (Team Jayco AlUla) may not have been one of the favourites for today's stage 15 at La Vuelta, but that didn't stop the Irish climber getting up the road despite the lack of the climbs in the final. When the massive front group he was in split, Dunbar made the cut and place 5th.

In that move were several riders who were always going to be faster than Ireland's Dunbar if it came down to a group sprint into Monforte de Lemos, chief amongst them Mads Pedersen of Lidl Trek.

Though Pedersen had opened a huge lead in the points classification, he had failed to win a stage before today. And his annoyance at that fact was clear to see during cranky pre-stage interviews when asked about his form.

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However, the mood was very different at the finish some four hours later; Pedersen taking his first win at Vuelta 2025, bringing his career Grand Tour stage tally to 11 as he collected his 12th win of the season.

Dunbar had to be content with 5th place after he had made a move off the front very early on the stage, spending 154km, of a total 168km, up the road. The attackers began making their way up the road on the first climb of the day, from the start; the 16.4km cat 1 Puerto a Garganta.

Eventually, there were 47 riders in the front group, initially pursuing king of the mountains, Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates), and Jakub Otruba (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA). They were eventually caught and the large front group opened a gap of over 13 minutes on the peloton as none of those up front posed a significant general classification threat.

On the second categorised climb - the 12km cat 2 Alto de Barbeitos - Vine was on the move again, this time with Louis Vervaeke (Soudal-QuickStep) for company. Though they had over 100km to go, they pressed on and opened a gap of 2:40 on the large group of chasers containing Pedersen and Dunbar.

However, with about 35km to go, eight riders attacked the large chase group - Pedersen, Dunbar, Egan Bernal and Magnus Sheffield (Ineos Grenadiers), Orluis Aular (Movistar), Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) and Marco Frigo (Israel-Premier Tech).

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Though it took that group more than 25km to catch the two leaders, they made the juncture just inside the final 10km. That set up the group sprint for stage victory won by Pedersen from Aular and Frigo, with Dunbar in 5th.

The front group finished 13:31 up the on the bunch, though that was not enough for any changes at the top of the general classification. Going into tomorrow's rest day, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) leads overall by 48 seconds from João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG). Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) is 3rd at 2:38.

Dunbar, who has not been riding for general classification at this Vuelta, started today's stage 15 in 28th at 59:02. And though he gained significant time today, he has moved up overall only marginally; now 25th at 45:31.

After the riders take in the rest day tomorrow, the final week of racing brings three uphill finishes, where Dunbar will hope to strike for a win, as he did on the penultimate stage last year on Picón Blanco.

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