Eddie Dunbar clocked up the best win of his professional career Saturday, taking what was his second stage victory in this year’s Vuelta a España.
The 28-year-old Cork rider had previously triumphed on stage 11 of the race but his success on the penultimate day was in more impressive circumstances, beating some of the world’s best riders on the final summit finish of the race.
Dunbar attacked five kilometres from the summit of the category one Picón Blanco, gradually drawing clear of the group of general classification contenders. He then caught and dropped lone leader Pavel Sivakov (UAE Team Emirates) with 3.5 kilometres remaining.
While proven Grand Tour riders such as Enric Mas (Movistar Team), Mikel Landa (T-Rex Quick-Step) and David Gaudu (Groupama FDJ) put in big accelerations behind, Dunbar hovered several seconds ahead of them and was able to fend off all efforts to bring him back.
“I always knew it was going to be a really difficult stage but with the way the last three weeks have been ridden I just thought that a lot of guys would be tired today,” Dunbar said. “Especially GC [general classification] guys who have gone to the limit every day.
“I’m a bit behind on GC, I knew that if I stayed with them and did everything right in the last week, I’d have a chance to maybe get the stage win today. I was never going to be let go in the breakaway, but I always believed I could win today.”
He reached the line seven seconds ahead of Mas, and 10 in front of race leader Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe). Given the difficulty of the climb and the standard of his rivals, it is his best win to date.
“I knew if I just kept pacing myself and kept riding at threshold, if someone was going to come across it was going to take a big effort,” he said.
“So I paced myself really well. It wasn’t until about 200 metres to go that I thought I could probably hold them off, when I looked back and saw a bit of daylight there.”
Roglic’s team was hit by what Spanish media reported as a case of salmonella, with a staff member hospitalised as a result.
The Slovenian appeared a little off his usual level but holds a 2:02 advantage over former race leader Ben O’Connor (Decathlon-Ag2r La Mondiale) heading into Sunday’s final stage time-trial in Madrid.
Mas is third, 2:11 back, meaning former Olympic champion Roglic has a substantial buffer and looks set for a record-equalling fourth Vuelta title.
Dunbar is up two places to 11th overall and has a big morale boost in advance of the upcoming road world championships.
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