Eddie Dunbar won his first race in two years with a stunning ride on the mountainous stage 19 of the Vuelta a Espana after timing his final attack to perfection.
The Cork rider claims the first Grand Tour stage win for his new team Pinarello Q36.5, and the third of his career, after passing out king of the mountains leader Santiago Buitrago inside the final kilometre at the summit finish of Penas Blancas following a tortuous 210km of racing from Velez-Malaga.
Dunbar only returned to racing in August after missing three months of the season with an ankle injury he sustained when he was hit by a scooter last March.
After forming part of the original 16-man break, the 30-year-old from Banteer emerged with three other riders on the final climb until Buitrago attacked 2km from the finish.
Dunbar, who won two stages of the Vuelta in 2024, bided his time alongside Urko Berrade and his Pinarello teammate Thomas Gloag before countering Buitrago and storming past him 500m from the finish.
“For three months, I didn’t ride a bike at all after a bad accident. I really didn’t think I’d be here and even competing for stages, let alone … yeah … just being here. So yeah, I can’t believe it. I can’t,” he said when asked about his injuries.”
In the general classification, primary challengers Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) and Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) made individual breakaway attempts throughout the day. The first came after 107km, but neither was able to detach from race leader Enric Mas (Movistar).
On the final climb, Carapaz and Roglic made final efforts to push clear, but Mas kept Roglic comfortably close to him. Roglic and Mas crossed the finish line alongside each other, 5:11 behind Dunbar.
Mas goes into the penultimate stage on Saturday with a strong 1:37 lead over Roglic.
Stage 20 is a 186.8km mountainous route from La Calahorra to Collado del Alguacil.