Eddie Dunbar and his Jayco AlUla team were on the wrong end of some very rough weather and crashes at Tour de Pologne today, with three of its riders coming down in crashes and Dunbar losing almost two minutes in the crash chaos.
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Conditions were very challenging, with the riders lashed by high winds and driving rain. With the finish also located on a motor racing circuit, the chaos only intensified close to the end after the wind had downed some trees along the course and also resulted in large advertising balloons being blown onto the roads.
However, while Dunbar has gone into this race - after his 7th overall at the Giro - as a real challenger, he lost 1:59 down when he finished in 75th place. There was some confusion at the finish about the times as initially it was intended to take the general classification times at the 4km to go marker.
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However, the commissaires eventually decided to nullify the time gaps for the general classification, meaning everyone starts again on the same time tomorrow morning, keeping Ireland's Dunbar in contention. His team reported three of its riders - Blake Quick, Michael Hepburn and Callum Scotson - were among the crash victims today, though it appears Dunbar was held up by those incidents, rather than crashing himself.
While today's opener was pan flat and not suited to climber Dunbar - through compatriot Sam Bennett (Bora-hansgrohe) was 4th on the stage - tomorrow's stage 2 will better suit Dunbar. The 202.9km stage takes the riders from Leszno to Karpacz.
There are three climbs in the last 40km, and though they are not major ascents, the finish is located on the final climb of about 5km, with the final 1.6km at an average gradient of 9.5 per cent. It is likely to bring about the first general classification shake-up in the race and can definitely suit Dunbar's punchy climbing abilities.
