Eddie Dunbar’s strong 2023 Giro d’Italia campaign will see him once again target the Italian Grand Tour next season, with his team confirming his participation once again.
Dunbar rode strongly throughout this year’s Giro. He was fourth on a stage and was sitting fourth overall with just three days to go. And while he fell sick before the end, he still finished seventh in the general classification, the highest Irish Giro finish since Stephen Roche won the race in 1987.
It was a very strong showing for the Corkman, particularly as he fractured his hand in his first race of the season and was out of competition for two months as a result.
Listed by Giro d’Italia organisers as being set to take part, his Jayco-AlUla team subsequently confirmed to The Irish Times that he will indeed target that race in 2024.
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“The most likely Grand Tour for Eddie this year is the Giro,” his coach Alex Camier said. “That is the target, and if everything goes well that is where we will be. The goal is to achieve the best possible general classification result, whatever that looks like.”
Dunbar joined the squad this year, becoming a designated team leader for the first time in his career. His Giro participation makes a Tour de France debut next summer very unlikely but, if he successfully builds on his 2023 Giro campaign, targeting the Tour in 2025 becomes a more viable target.
Dunbar is still just 27 years of age and is coming into his prime as an athlete.
Meanwhile, Cycling Ireland has confirmed an allocation of €230,000 from Sport Ireland under the recently announced Dormant Accounts funding package.
The federation clarified how the funding will be spent, with the substantial portion of €150,000 to be used for the Get Ireland Cycling initiative. Targeted at increasing participation of children via balance bike and cycling skills programmes, there will also be focus on bringing adults into the port via five newly-established cycling hubs. These will operate in collaboration with Local Sports Partnerships and Local Councils.
The remaining €80,000 in funding will be split between three other initiatives. €30,000 is available for a volunteer supports programme targeting grassroots cycling via primary and post-primary schools, while
€40,000 will go into a local disability sports fund. This is intended to support the initiation or expansion of disability-specific participation programmes or projects, and will also provide small-scale sports equipment to individual clubs for this area.
The remaining €10,000 is for the Her Moves – Cycle programme, which will encourage teenage girls to get more involved in cycling.
“The dormant accounts funding that is received each year from Sport Ireland is key to allowing Cycling Ireland deliver programmes, equipment, and courses to 1,000s of young people aged between 5 and 17,” said CI’s interim participation manager Paul Norton.
“Without this funding, these children and teenagers may not have the opportunities to acquire the skills or experience cycling. Cycling Ireland is looking forward to creating more positive experiences through cycling for even more young people in 2024, all thanks to dormant account funding and the team in Cycling Ireland who work hard each year to deliver these programmes.”
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