Ireland's Eddie Dunbar climbs higher on huge day at La Vuelta | Video

Eddie Dunbar looking like he'd been to war at the finish of La Vuelta stage 15 in Valgrande-Pajares Cuitu Negru today (Photo: Luis Angel Gomez-SCA-Cor Vos)

Eddie Dunbar may have suffered some setbacks early in La Vuelta, but came back strong to take a memorable stage win and has now climbed among the best on a truly brutal finish to stage 15 today.

The Team Jayco AlUla man said after that superb stage 11 win he had come to the race to ride for the general classification but soon found out his legs would not cooperate.

However, on the strength of today's performance on the final climb of Cuitu Negru, all 18.9kms of if, Dunbar's legs were clearly in much better shape than a fortnight ago. He is now starting to strong together a general classification ride, even if it's not the one he hoped for in Lisbon the weekend before last.

With the best of the breakaway men making it all the way today - coming through the mist on the summit finish to fill the top three placings - the general classification group exploded behind them on the steep slops.

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Dunbar may not have climbed among the very best of those GC riders, but he was among those just behind the top men; the Cork rider placing 14th on the stage. He was 2:04 down on the brilliant Spanish rider Pablo Castrillo.

The 23-year-old took his second stage win for Equipo Kern Pharma; winning by 12 and 31 seconds from Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) and Pavel Sivakov (UAE Team Emirates) respectively.

Then came the first of the GC riders, with Enric Mas (Movistar Team) and Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) 4th and 5th at 1:04, after Mas had briefly dropped Roglič on the upper slopes of the climb, only to be closed down right on the finish line.

That meant Dunbar lost just one minute to the big two on that final climb. Race leader Ben O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) was just three places and 22 seconds ahead of Dunbar. However, the Australian's time loss today to Mas and Roglič has again seen his overall lead cut.

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He is now just 1:03 up on 2nd placed Roglič, 2:23 up on Mas and 2:44 up on 4th placed Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost); the latter finishing in 7th place today and giving away just nine seconds to Mas and Roglič.

For Dunbar, the performance today - climbing among the best at the front of the race - will be heartening as it moves him into the top 15 in the general classification. The Irish rider is now 15th overall, up three places, and sits 11:41 down on O'Connor.

Further gains may be difficult for Dunbar in the third week of the race as he is 1:51 down on Cristián Rodríguez (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) in 14th place and 6:30 off Pavel Sivakov (UAE Team Emirates) in 10th.

However, some of the riders ahead of the Irishman may fall away with the fatigue of the third week, and due to team duties, meaning Dunbar may get closer to the top 10. The time he has lost also means he may get leeway for another breakaway ride.

Irish champion Darren Rafferty, with his making his Grand Tour debut with EF Education-EasyPost at this Vuelta, was 68th today at 22:02 after another solid day riding in service of team leader Carapaz.

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