Eddie Dunbar made his debut at Giro dell’Emilia back in 2020, putting in a career-best ride on the day to take 4th place. However, the Irishman was only at the start of his struggle to gain Grand Tour selection with Ineos Grenadiers.
However, Dunbar now goes back to the brutally hard one-day race in Italy a transformed rider - and in the kind of form that makes him a contender for victory, even of one-day racing is not his speciality.
Since his debut in the race to San Luca, he has finished 7th the Giro d'Italia - which is new team Jayco AlUla - and won two stages at La Vuelta this season. And those two Vuelta victories, and his standing as a Grand Tour team leader, means he goes back to the race this weekend a transformed rider.
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The course takes in 3,400m of elevation gain, including five ascents of he San Luca climb, with the race finishing at the top of the climb; some 2.1km averaging 9.4 per cent.
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And it is that repeated ascent of the final climb that can suit Dunbar so well, as it did four years ago when he was in the select group of just six on the last lap in a race won by Aleksandr Vlasov, then an Astana rider.
Dunbar goes into tomorrow's race in a team line-up that also includes Simon Yates and Filippo Zana, given Team Jayco AlUla a number of cards to play and a great shot at victory.
After the La Vuelta, which concluded on September 8th, Dunbar had a break from racing and got back into the thick of it with Ireland at the World Road Championships in Zurich last weekend.
He finished the 274km race alongside Yates, riding for Great Britain, and Zana, who was racing for Italy; the trade team mates placing 66th, 67th and 68th. After that tough outing, Dunbar should be ready for action tomorrow.
