Dunbar aiming for top 10 in Giro despite lack of preparation

Eddie Dunbar is in his sixth season as a professional cyclist, and if the Corkman knows one thing about the sport it's that things rarely go according to plan.

If the first half of the 2023 season went as he´d mapped out, the 26-year old would have had a heavy February and March race schedule, sandwiched by a couple of training camps and maybe one more stage race in April before the Giro d´Italia.

To say that didn't happen is an understatement because a crash on the first stage of his season opener in Valencia sidelined him from competitive action for over two months, and his misery was compounded by a delayed diagnosis for a fractured bone in his hand.

But like he has so often done in his somewhat crash-blighted career, the diminutive Dunbar (26) has picked himself up, dusted himself down, and at the start of the 106th Giro d´Italia, is recoiled and ready for road once more.

Tomorrow, he'll roll down the start ramp for the opening stage of the Italian Grand Tour, knowing he carries the Team Jayco Alula's General Classification hopes - and a certain amount of pressure to prove he can withstand the rigours of a three-week race.

Hopefully we can give the Irish fans something to cheer about over the three weeks and I've no doubt we will

He´s one of just two Irishmen in the 176-rider field - Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) the other, so there's pressure there too to try and fill the enormous vacuum left (in Ireland) following the retirements of cousins Dan Martin and Nicolas Roche in 2021.

"I'm here, I’m healthy…so it's up to the road now," he told us from the team hotel in Abruzzo on Thursday.

"The work is done. We did a recon of tomorrow´s opening time-trial, a few sponsorship engagements, we had the team presentation at 10 o’