Eddie Dunbar, with Ben Healy, on the front of the stage 6 breakaway at the Tour de France, where Dunbar crashed the next day and was forced out of the race (Photo: Vincent Kalut-Sprint Cycling Agency)
Eddie Dunbar may have crashed at the Tour de France and been forced to abandon the race, but the good news is that the Irish rider has no lingering injuries from his fall almost three weeks ago. Indeed, he has resumed training and is set to get back into racing action immediately.
The 28-year-old Cork man will be part of the Team Jayco AlUla line-up for the Arctic Race of Norway (2.PRO), a four-stage race that gets underway tomorrow week, August 7th.
Dunbar looked in great form at the Tour, where he made the breakaway on stage 6, finishing 4th on the day that Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) took his first career victory on the Tour. However, just 24 hours later, Healy and Dunbar came down in a crash as the reduced peloton was descending inside the final 10km of stage 7.
Both Irish riders were able to get back on their bikes and finish the stage, though it was immediately clear Dunbar had sustained an injury to his arm. Though he signed on the next day, and got strapped up and ready to race, he was unable to start and his first Tour came to an end.
In the near three weeks since his crash, Dunbar has had some time to recover and do some training. His team has now confirmed to stickybottle he has no lingering injuries and will be on the start line at Arctic Race of Norway next week.
Though there are no major mountains on the route in Norway, there are plenty of short and sharp climbs, including an uphill finish on the 182km stage 3, to Målselv. The riders face a 3.7km climb at the finish. And with an average gradient of just under eight per cent, it should do some damage.
That ascent will suit climber Dunbar, who has a petrol engine on the climbs when he is in form. The final stage of the race – an eight-lap 141km circuit race in Tromsø – will unfold over an undualting lap that should prove attritional and which may also suit Dunbar.
The Irishman looked like he was in great condition on the Tour and if he has been able to hold some of that form, and can now regroup quickly and get back into battle, he may come away from Norway with a result.
The fact he is able to return to racing so quickly also bodes well for his ambition to go to the Vuelta, where he won two stages last year, and take something big from that race to help him overcome the disappointment of the Tour.