Nobody ever said cycling was fair, but the hardships that have rained down upon Eddie Dunbar over the years have seemed cruel even by the remorseless standards of this old sport. Samuel Beckett could have knocked out a collection of stories from the absurdities of ill fortune that have dogged his compatriot's career in recent years.
The latest and most stinging setback came in May at the Giro d'Italia. Dunbar had arrived in Italy with designs on improving on his 7th place finish of 2023, but his challenge was ruined on the second day when he was brought down by Olav Kooij on the approach to the summit finish at Oropa, injuring his lateral cruciate ligament in the process.
Dunbar's Giro ended the following morning, but in the weeks that followed, he found himself wondering if the incident had marked the beginning of the end of his career. His two seasons at Jayco-Alula had been repeatedly interrupted by crashes, and with each fall, it became a little harder to go on. But go on he did. Dunbar's reward finally arrived in Galicia on Wednesday afternoon when he claimed victory on stage 11 of the Vuelta a España.
"I've had numerous times in my head where I thought, yeah, that I might not have a future in the sport just because of the crashes and the injuries I've had," Dunbar said as he waited to mount the podium. "And this year after the Giro, when I injured my LCL, I thought that could be the nail in the coffin, as they say, in terms of my cycling career."
In the press conference truck after the podium ceremony, Dunbar again cast his mind back to those weeks in May. Crashes have been a companion throughout his career, from the concussion that blighted his final season as an amateur to the falls suffered at the start of each of the past two seasons, but the Giro incident hit a little differently to the misfortunes that had come before.
"I think it was definitely the most difficult one," Dunbar said. "I pulled out because of a bad wound in my knee in the patellar tendon, but once I got it scanned, I found out there was a lot more going on with the knee: I had a grade two injury in the LCL. It was very difficult to take especially with all the preparation and bad luck I'd had before that. That added a couple of weeks to my recovery.
"It's been difficult mentally more so than physically. There are only so many setbacks you can take before it starts affecting you mentally, and I'm sure it did. But as I keep saying, I have a great group of people around me. My girlfriend Niamh, my family, my friends and the team support me so much…"
Breakaway
Dunbar returned to action at the Irish championships in late June, collecting the time trial title, and he spent the summer diligently working towards the Vuelta. The idea was to replicate his general classification challenge from last year's Giro, but that plan wilted in the white heat of Extremadura and Andalusia in the opening phase of the Vuelta. Dunbar's form was solid, as evidenced by his display at Cazorla on stage 8, but the soaring temperatures effectively placed an upper limit on what he could achieve in the overall standings.
"I actually have really good legs, but when temperatures are over 40°C like last week, it just doesn't work for me, unfortunately," Dunbar said. "That's not an excuse, because there are very good bike riders who handled the heat very well last week, chapeau to them. But they were the hardest conditions I've ever raced in, for sure. Growing up in Ireland, I got used to racing in 12°C so 40°C heat isn't my forte. But today makes it all better."
The upside to Dunbar's relative travails in the opening week was the freedom of movement they allowed him here. The man from Banteer in County Cork began stage 11 in 22nd place overall, almost 16 minutes off Ben O'Connor's red jersey, and that deficit meant he could form part of the early escape of 37 riders that formed on the rugged roads around the Campus Tecnológico Cortizo in Padrón.
Dunbar had Jayco-Alula teammate Filippo Zana for company, but a move of that size called for flexibility rather than a strategy set in stone. Although Dunbar was among the best climbers in a front group that included George Bennett and Guillaume Martin, the final climb of Puerto Cruxeiras wasn't exactly tailored to his talents. The idea was to do enough to stay in the hunt and then try to carve out an opportunity for himself over the other side.
"Even when the break formed, there were 37 of us and we weren't cooperating very well, but the gap was still going out," Dunbar said. "I knew I was one of the strongest climbers, but the climb wasn't long enough for me to make a huge difference, so it was just about playing my cards right."
Dunbar didn't show his hand until the final kilometre, where fourteen of the original escapees remained in the hunt for victory. Jhonatan Narváez was the fastest finisher by reputation, and anticipating the Ecuadorian's final effort was essential. Dunbar showed courage in going long, with some 600 metres remaining. He immediately ripped clear of the front group and then sustained that effort all the way home.
As the finishing banner drew near, he finally realised that nobody could pass him. Dunbar rolled across the line somewhere between disbelief and joy. No, cycling isn't always fair, but sometimes it offers a form of justice.
"In the end, I just backed my sprint," Dunbar said. "I haven't been in that situation too many times, but I know if I get a good run, I can sprint quite fast – from the right group of course. But I backed myself today. It's probably something I should do a bit more."
