Eddie Dunbar denies suggestion his Vuelta a Espana success heralds real career beginning after soaring to Stage 20 win
Published 07/09/2024 at 17:12 GMT
Ireland's Eddie Dunbar ascended to a fantastic victory on the Vuelta a Espana's 'Queen Stage', ahead of the main general classification contenders including Primoz Roglic, Enric Mas and Richard Carapaz. It was only Dunbar's second-ever Grand Tour victory, with the first coming just over a week ago on Stage 11 in Spain, but he hailed this one as even "sweeter".
‘I backed myself’ – ‘Super happy’ Dunbar says Stage 20 win ‘feels sweeter’ than Stage 11 triumph
Eddie Dunbar pushed back against any suggestion that his second victory at the 2024 Vuelta a Espana on Stage 20 heralds the true start of his career.
Jayco AlUla’s Dunbar won Stage 11 from a breakaway - his first professional victory apart from the Irish national time trial championships - but said his 'Queen Stage' triumph was one he had always dreamed of.
Dunbar broke away from the GC group with 5km to go, chasing down Pavel Sivakov (UAE Team Emirates) on the slopes of the first-category Picon Blanco and then holding off the favourites including Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe red jersey Primoz Roglic to celebrate at the summit finish.
Yet when asked if this could herald the "real start" of his career, Dunbar replied: “I don’t say that, I’ve had good times and I’ve had bad times and this is all part of the process I think.
“There is going to be more ups and there’s going to be more downs and that’s just the way life is. I’ve learned that throughout my career, moments like this don’t come round too often.
“I’ve had two in the past two weeks and I’m just looking forward to sharing these moments and celebrating them with friends and family.
“This one definitely feels a bit more sweeter, I said to a few people after the stage win last week that it was never the way I expected to win a Grand Tour stage, I always imagined winning on top of a climb whether it was from a breakaway or GC group.”
‘This is amazing!’ – ‘Steady Eddie’ Dunbar secures second stage win of Vuelta 2024
Dunbar credits win to past battle with Picon Blanco
Well down the general classification order, Dunbar still needed to outclimb the big names on the steep Burgos slopes with the gap to Roglic and Co. dropping from over half a minute to just a few seconds at one point.
However, Dunbar dug in to keep a gap on the road and the favourites then stalled with a couple of kilometres to go, allowing the Irishman to extend his gap once more, and he crossed the line seven seconds ahead of Movistar’s Enric Mas with Roglic just a few more bike-lengths behind.
That means the Slovenian will roll off the ramp in the final time trial with a lead of over two minutes to second-placed Ben O’Connor (Decathlon–AG2R La Mondiale), whom Mas trails by just nine seconds.
Dunbar will not be expecting to challenge for the stage victory in Madrid but has already enjoyed a superb three weeks in Spain, and paid tribute to his previous experience on the Picon Blanco climb having finished 37th on the summit four years ago when riding for Team INEOS.
“I just felt good in the second part today and I just backed myself on the climb and paced myself really well,” Dunbar added.
“I knew this climb from a few years ago, we did it in Burgos in 2020 and I knew there was parts where it was steep and then levelled out, it was a bit different to what it showed on the profile.
“So yeah I just paced it, I rode the steep parts pretty hard and I rode the flat bits really conservative just to make sure I had enough left in the tank. At first when Sivakov went on the climb, no one reacted and then I tried to follow and I noticed Bora kind of chased.
“So then I just thought ‘no point wasting bullets on a climb like this’. I am 12 minutes down on GC, I knew I’d get a bit of leeway, I think they gave me that but I’m just super happy that I could hold onto them.”
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