Hot on the heels of his impressive third place overall in the Tour de Yorkshire on Sunday, Eddie Dunbar has been confirmed as making his Grand Tour debut in the Giro d'Italia. The Corkman's Team Ineos squad confirmed the news on Tuesday, saying that the 22-year-old will be part of its eight-man line-up when the race begins this Saturday in Bologna.
The squad will be lead by Tao Geoghegan Hart and Pavel Sivakov, and will feature six riders aged 25 or under. It is the youngest-ever Grand Tour line-up unveiled by the squad, which previously competed as Team Sky prior to the recent change of its title sponsor.
"Over the last two seasons we have been bringing together a carefully selected group of young riders who we believe to be the future of our team," said Ineos principal Dave Brailsford.
"Whilst very much in the learning and development phase of their careers, we have nevertheless already seen them taking great strides forwards this year with Egan [Bernal], Pavel and Chris Lawless all winning stage races and Tao, Ivan [Sosa], Jhonatan [Narvaez], Sebastian [Henao] and Eddie all riding exceptionally well."
Dunbar will be supporting Geoghegan Hart and Sivakov, but will also be seeking to build experience and strength in the three-week event. He said several years ago that chasing overall success in the Tour de France was his big career goal.
Dunbar’s green light comes after his Yorkshire ride and also the injury-related absence of the rider who was to lead the squad, Egan Bernal.
“Eddie will now come into the team for his first Giro and, given his recent performances, it is well deserved,” said Brailsford.
