Eddie Dunbar overcomes setbacks to take place among elite

Ireland's Eddie Dunbar notched a career-best result on Saturday as he claimed overall victory at the prestigious five-day Coppi e Bartali stage race in Italy.

The 25-year-old from Kanturk may not have won any of the individual stages but his results and cumulative time over the five days was enough for him to celebrate his first win as a professional cyclist.

And in doing so, he became the first Irishman to win a professional stage race since the recently-retired Nicolas Roche won the Route du Sud in 2014.

To put it further into perspective, not since Stephen Roche won the Giro d’Italia in 1987 has an Irishman won a stage race in Italy, the cycling term given to a race spanning multiple days.

"I’ve been on the team a few years now and everyone knows how much this means to me, it's like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders," he said afterwards.

"I knew I could be up there in races, GC-wise and I said, 'once I get a good run I can be good enough to contest these races'. Everything fell into place this week and it's a relief.

"The guys did a super job all week - they rode really well. We rode the stage today and controlled it from start to finish, it was great.

"I was grateful to all of the guys for believing in me and backing me these last few days to stick in there and it’s nice to finally get a win and show how grateful I am to them, and all the staff too."

His talent has long been known to keen observers of the sport but his six years as a professional rider have not been straightforward, with injuries and bad luck often robbing him of the chance to show his full potential.

He had no such issues this week in Italy, however, as some truly brilliant performances coupled with a little luck and a very strong team ensured he