Eddie Dunbar had a solid start to his Giro d’Italia on Saturday, finishing 24th out of 175 riders in the opening time-trial. Belgian champion Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) was fastest over the 19.6-kilometre distance, reaching the finish in Ortona in a time 22 seconds quicker than the Italian Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers).
Slovenian Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma), who is regarded as Evenepoel’s biggest rival for the overall victory, conceded 43 seconds in finishing sixth, but underlined that 20 more stages remain.
Dunbar is not a time-trial specialist but said before his start that he and his Jayco AlUla team had been chasing improvements this season. “Growing up, I’ve always liked the discipline. I’ve done a good bit of work this year on the TT bike. I got wind tunnel testing, and had those fast skinsuits made, bits and pieces like that.”
He ended up with that 24th place, one minute 25 seconds behind Evenepoel’s time, and indicated he was content with the showing. “It went a bit better than I expected. I really got on top of the gear at the start. I felt good, I felt like I had a good bit of power in the legs. It was not my best TT ever, but it was definitely heading towards that.”
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Fellow Irishman Ben Healy got his first Grand Tour under way with a 48th-place finish, a further 20 seconds behind Dunbar.
The Giro d’Italia continues on Sunday with an undulating 202-kilometre stage to San Salvo. A bunch sprint looks to be the most likely outcome, although breakaway riders will aim to disrupt that.
In Belgium, Lara Gillespie had a superb showing in the 1.1-ranked GP Echo-Struct race, finishing second to former world champion Amalie Dideriksen (Uno-X Pro Cycling Team) in a mass bunch sprint to the line.
The runner-up slot is the best road-racing result of Gillespie’s season thus far, her first as part of the UAE Development Team. She is just 22 years of age and looks set for a big pro career.
In Greece, Rory Townsend finished a fine fourth overall in the International Tour of Hellas. The Bolton Equities Black Spoke rider was eighth in the bunch sprint which decided the final stage to Olympia. He had started the day third in the general classification but slipped down one place due to the time bonus picked up by Stanislaw Aniolkowski (Human Powered Health) in winning the stage. Townsend’s squad won the team classification in the 2.1-ranked event.
Finally, Italian rider Gaia Realini (Trek-Segafredo) won the sixth stage of the women’s Vuelta a España, the Vuelta Femenina. She outsprinted breakaway companion Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar Team) to the line in Laredo, with the latter taking over the race lead from Demi Vollering (Team SD Worx).
The stage was a controversial one as Vollering and other riders had stopped for a toilet break when Van Vleuten’s team went on the attack. Vollering had shown her strength on Friday’s summit finish and had looked poised to win the race overall, but instead finds herself one minute 11 seconds back heading into the final stage.
Irish rider Fiona Mangan finished 80th on the stage and improved five places to 105th overall.
