Determined Eddie Dunbar back in the saddle as he bids for Grand Tour glory

It is a measure of Eddie Dunbar’s ability and potential that he finished seventh in this year’s Giro d’Italia despite falling ill heading into the final weekend of the event.

Dunbar had been fourth overall with three days to go, then fell sick and drifted to seventh.

That was the best overall Irish result since Stephen Roche’s famous Giro win in 1987, yet he would have been closer to the podium had he not become unwell.

“It was something like bronchitis,” the Cork man told the Irish Times this week, elaborating on that Giro setback in advance of his career debut in the Vuelta a España on Saturday.

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“It wasn’t nice. I wasn’t sleeping great the last couple of stages, on the last three nights . . .

“Before the time trial, I slept for maybe just four hours that night. Then the night before the final stage in Rome, I slept for one hour. I was pretty sick. I would have quite happily not raced that Rome stage but, after three weeks, you have to do it . . .”

While Dunbar points out that the final stage was run off at a relatively relaxed pace, helping him get through the fatigue, the same isn’t true for the previous day’s individual time trial. That was a very difficult test, a lung-busting effort which finished atop a steep eight-kilometre climb.

He finished 19th on the stage, drifting to seventh place overall, and while that time trial performance was a solid ride under the circumstances, he knows he would have fared much better without the sickness.

“It was disappointing, because obviously the legs were there, the condition was there. I was disappointed for a few days after it. But when you put it in context, when you have 18 good days [out of 21], it’s not so bad. It’s better than having just 17 good days. You have to look at it like that.”

Dunbar’s combination of ambition and pragmatism has brought him a long way in a tough sport. He has faced numerous setbacks over the years and these have delayed his rise towards the top.

A team leader for the first time this year, he has shrugged off the lack of opportunities he had with Team Sky/Ineos Grenadiers and now has the full support of Team Jayco-Alula.

The climbing specialist heads the Australian squad going into the Vuelta a España, which begins with a 14.8km team time trial in Barcelona on Saturday.

Offering up ten summit finishes and, by his reckoning, 13 stages particularly important to the general classification, he believes the route should suit him.

“On paper it is a bit better for me than the Giro,” he says. “There is less time trialling in the Vuelta, that probably suits me a bit better. It’s probably going to be a puncher race, the stages are shorter, with steeper climbs. That makes for aggressive racing.

“Obviously, the heat is going to be a big factor as well. There are a lot of different elements compared to the Giro. It’s going to be a lot of learning over the three weeks, just a case of putting into practice what we learned in the Giro. We’ll see how it goes.”

Dunbar will be up against a star-studded field in Spain. Double Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard is there, as is his team-mate Primož Roglič, winner of three editions of the Vuelta plus this year’s Giro d’Italia. Their Jumbo-Visma team is vying to be the first to win all three Grand Tours in the same season.

Also lining up is Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep), the 2022 Vuelta winner, plus 2018 Tour de France champion Geraint Thomas. Throw in Enric Mas (Movistar Team), Juan Ayuso and João Almedia (both UAE Team Emirates) plus several other key contenders, and you’ve a really strong field.

Dunbar could get intimidated by that, but he won’t let himself be. He knows it’s not about reputations, or past achievements, but rather about current form, about recovering as well as possible, and about gauging effort.

“It’s clear that there’s a couple of teams that are going to try to control the race and make the race hard,” he explains, talking tactics.

“The main thing is, you get to that point where there’s a reduced number of people there [on a climb], like 15 guys. And then after that, then it’s just about having the legs. Whether that’s making a move yourself, or going with it with a move that’s going to be decisive, you are just picking that right moment to use a bullet, if that makes sense. And hoping that you have the legs to do be there.”

Fully recovered from the Giro experience, he believes having that stage race in his system should help him greatly over the next three weeks. So too doing his first high altitude training camp in the build-up to the race. He’s feeling strong, thinks he’s in a good place, and is raring to go.

“I’m just looking forward to getting started, really,” he says. “Since the end of the Giro I knew I was going to be doing the Vuelta. It’s been about having a proper build into that. I trained really well.

“Now it’s about limiting losses in this first week, and then the last two weeks kind of takes care of itself.”

As he says, as he’s learned, it’s all about having the legs.