Eddie Dunbar has enjoyed his most successful
day as a cyclist, taking the race lead at Coppi e Bartali, and now the Irishman
has his sights set on winning the race or making sure his team does.
The Ineos Grenadiers rider gained time
yesterday after taking 2nd on the stage – to breakaway companion Mauro Schmid (Quick-Step
Alpha Vinyl). And when
Schmid was dropped today on the climbs and Dunbar finished in the 17-man select
group, the race lead passed to him.
His team mate Ethan Hayter won the stage in a sprint from
the group and gained a 10-second time bonus. That puts him to within six
seconds of Dunbar and Hayter may now be the Irishman’s biggest rival for
overall victory when the race ends on Saturday afternoon.
Tomorrow’s stage 3 is very lumpy 147km, featuring a kicker
at the end, meaning a select group is likely to emerge again before a sprint
for victory.
However, for now Dunbar was very pleased
with his ride today, when he withstood a very hard pace set by Alpecin Fenix
and late attacks by its leader Mathieu van der Poel.
“It
was a very difficult day,” Dunbar said after the finish being interviewed
in his leader’s jersey following the prize presentation.
“Alpecin
rode a really, really hard race and they started (riding hard) much earlier
than we expected. But I think it suited us. So it’s a good day, Ethan won the
stage and we have the overall lead going into a very difficult day
tomorrow.”
Dunbar
described as “incredible” the fact Geraint Thomas was on the front of
the reducing peloton today working for him and Hayter.
“G,
he’s won a lot of races, he’s a Tour de France champion. To see the way he rode
there… That two laps he rode on the front, he took control of the race. It’s
pretty inspiring for the young guys on the team to go and finish off the job,
when you have a guy like that doing work like he is.”
Asked
if he and Ineos Grenadiers could retain the leader’s jersey to the finish,
especially during the San Marino stage tomorrow, Dunbar answered in the
affirmative.
“I think we proved today we have one of the strongest teams in the race so we just have to use our heads and be smart and hopefully we can be in the same situation tomorrow as today.”
