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Eddie Dunbar is warming to this Grand Tour business. The Irishman has less experience at this kind of racing than anyone else in the upper reaches of the Giro d’Italia classification, but it wasn’t evident from his assured display on Monte Bondone on stage 16.
“It’s only my second Grand Tour, but I think I’m learning quickly,” Dunbar said when he wheeled to a halt past the finish line after placing fourth on the day and moving up to fifth overall, 3:03 behind maglia rosa Geraint Thomas. “We were prepared for what happened today.”
When the group of favourites splintered under pressure from UAE Team Emirates’ Jay Vine midway up Monte Bondone, Dunbar was among the elite few with the wherewithal to withstand the pace. Later, he would tailor his effort smartly on the steepest section of the climb, resisting the temptation to try to counter the attacks of João Almeida and Thomas.
Instead, Dunbar settled on following the steadier tempo of the Jumbo-Visma pairing of Sepp Kuss and Primoz Roglič. He would come home alongside Roglič, 25 seconds down on Almeida and Thomas, but more than 40 seconds ahead of the rest of the podium contenders, jumping three places in the overall standings in the process.
“It’s a three-week race, so you have to pace yourself,” Dunbar said. “I know my limits, so I had to back off a bit there. That was the moment where the race kind of went. But I battled my way back to Roglič and Kuss. I just sat on them and Kuss rode a really good tempo to limit the losses. Then Primoz brought the gap back a bit there at the finish.”
As well as adhering to his limits, Dunbar was perhaps also fighting his instincts on Monte Bondone. His natural inclination has always been towards aggressive racing, after all, as evidenced by one of his first appearances for Team Sky at the 2018 Giro della Toscana, where he was charged with setting the tempo for Gianni Moscon. When he accelerated sharply to snuff out an attack that afternoon, his radio earpiece crackled with a gentle reminder that his new team didn’t do things that way – all part of the education.
Dunbar’s time at Sky – later Ineos – would ultimately prove to be a longer apprenticeship than he might have liked, given that his only exposure to Grand Tour racing would come at the 2019 Giro. Still, he learned plenty of lessons along the way, not least en route to victory at the Settimana Coppi e Bartali and Tour de Hongrie last year. The move to Jayco-Alula ahead of…
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