When Eddie Dunbar found himself with three minutes on the bunch after 20km of a solo breakaway, he put the head down and lasted another 60km out front on his own in Portugal, above.
Irish U23 road race champion Eddie Dunbar put in an aggressive showing in Portugal on Thursday when he rode in a solo breakaway for two hours on stage 2 of the Volta ao Alentejo.
He would eventually be caught when he turned into the headwind and he would not feature in the uphill finish at the UCI 2.2 event.
However, his escape underlines he is in good form and is maintaining his confidence and aggression.
It also confirms he has fully recovered from a crash last weekend, when he came down while in the breakaway on the second stage of two of the GP Liberty Seguros Trofeu Alpendre (UCI 2.2).
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The Irish teenager said at the finish that he did not intend to ride away on his own after 70km of the 206km stage completed.
However, when a small group pulled clear after the second intermediate sprint point he followed them up the road.
And from that group he pushed on, finding himself out front alone and deciding to commit to a solo effort.
Dunbar edges away from the peloton; he was told by his team to keep going once he established his lead.
"They didn't really ride,” Dunbar said of the group he found himself in just after the sprint.
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“So I just kept going and I ended up on my own. It wasn't really planned. We were just told to be in the moves.
“I knew there was another sprint at the 90km mark so I was going to get to that and sit up.
“But (assistant sport director) Jeff Louder told me that I had three minutes so be prepared for a long day."
In the end, while he rode impressively on his own off the front, the headwind he turned into took its toll.
And the 19-year-old was recaptured by the main field with 60km remaining after 78km leading on his own.
The stage was won solo by new race leader Enric Mas (Klein Constantia), with two of Dunbar’s Axeon Hagens Berman team mates in the top 10 on the day.
Tao Geoghegan and Logan Owen were 4th and 8th respectively, in a group four seconds behind the winner as what remained of the peloton fractured on the testing finish.
Despite his breakaway ride, Dunbar would come home just 1:35 down in 93rd place, with some of the riders almost 12 minutes down.
Friday's stage also features an uphill finish after 187km from Portel to Beja.
The stage was won solo by new race leader Enric Mas of Klein Constantia after he just held off those behind on the uphill finish.
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