Irish man Eddie Dunbar took a fine ninth place on stage four of the Giro d’Italia on Tuesday, continuing his advance in the general classification in the race to 14th overall.
The Cork rider was part of a select group that finished two minutes behind the day’s winner, Aurélien Paret-Peintre (Ag2r Citroën), who beat Andreas Leknessund (Team DSM) in a two-man sprint into Lago Laceno.
Paret-Peintre and Leknessund had been part of a seven-man group which broke clear of the main bunch with just under 100 kilometres remaining, and which built a stage-winning advantage. The duo distanced their breakaway companions on the final climb, with Leknessund putting in a huge effort to try to drop his rival.
He took over the race lead, displacing the race favourite Remco Evenepoel. The Belgian temporarily surrendered the pink jersey to take the pressure off his Soudal — QuickStep team. He slips one place to second overall, 28 seconds back, while Dunbar gained five places and is now a fine 14th.
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Fellow Irish man Ben Healy made multiple attempts to go clear early in the stage but was hauled back each time. He deliberately eased back on the final climb in order to slip down the general classification, realising he will be less closely marked if he is not seen as a threat to the overall lead.
Healy eventually finished 78th and went from 32nd to 57th overall.
“I gave it a good go,” he said afterwards. “Maybe a bit too much. I couldn’t get away … it seems like every time I did, someone would chase it down. The legs are where they need to be, I think. I hit the final climb and maybe I could have stayed with them. But I am not here for GC [general classification] and put the brakes on and lost as much time as possible. Maybe now it will be a little bit easier to go. There are a lot of opportunities in this Giro and hopefully, it will work out in the next couple of weeks.”
He is riding his first three-week race and said before the Giro that a stage win was his goal. Dunbar is chasing a top-10 finish overall.
Race leader Leknessund almost didn’t start the Giro due to the death of a close family member. He became only the second Norwegian in history to take the pink jersey.
“I went for the stage and also knew that the pink was possible. It is super special to be in the pink. That was the goal before the stage, but as everyone knows, it is hard. Cycling is not so easy. To actually make it is unbelievable.”
