Cork cyclist Eddie Dunbar up for challenge of very first Tour de France – ‘He has never let us down'

Irish Independent

a day ago

Dunbar (28) will be part of a Jayco-Alula team built around Australian climber Ben O'Connor and Dutch sprinter Dylan Groenewegen.
The 2025 edition of the Tour, starting in Lille on Saturday and ending in Paris on July 27, will see riders travel 3,338.8km over 21 days.
Dunbar's former Kanturk O'Leary Stone Cycling Club coach, Dan Curtin, told The Corkman that he and others from the club will be cheering Dunbar on in France.
'He has never let us down and he is one of our own,' Dan said.
Though Dunbar may be tasked with supporting O'Connor in particular, he could well get chances to go for stage wins. He proved he could race with the best in the peloton last year, by winning two stages of the Vuelta a España.
Despite stepping up to the top level of cycling almost eight years ago, the Banteer racer has had to wait for his chance to compete in the Tou de France, the biggest race in the professional calendar.
Mr Curtin reckons the challenge presented by the Tour will be difficult, but Dunbar will get on 'okay.'
'Eddie will do okay if he plays his cards right and doesn't get too excited during parts of it,' he said.
'I do think it will be a big challenge, but I think he is up for it.'
Mr Curtin said he had a brief call with Dunbar last week. Dunbar told Mr Curtin that he is excited for the challenge and is planning his moves and plays for the race ahead.
'He must keep his eyes open on this one and get the bit of luck that you need,' Mr Curtin said.
The cycling coach said domestic racing and competitions are very different to those on the continent, and native riders may have an advantage, but he fully believes in his former trainee's ability.
'Look, you have shorter distances [in Ireland] and you tend to go all out in the race whereas those on the continent would be pacing themselves and would rely on the other riders to pace them,' he said.
'Eddie will have to do a lot of work.
'The concentration is big because going up a climb is one thing, but you are going down fast and around bad bends.
'Some fellas can climb but can't descend.'
France is currently under an extreme high temperature warning, with heat close to 40C, which will play a factor in riders' preparation for the Tour.
Mr Curtin expects additional feeding points to be made available along the route to allows riders to refuel.
Despite the extreme heat expected, some members of Kanturk O'Leary Stoen Cycling Club will make the journey over to France to support Eddie, who Dan described as a 'dream' to coach.
'He is a pure dream to train,' he said.
Mr Curtin founded Kanturk O'Leary Stone in 1991, and it has since grown to one of Ireland's most active underage clubs.
The club has bred a number of elite level cyclists including Dillon Corkery, Sam Bennett, Archie Ryan and Josie Knight.
'I know of clubs all my life and they never got something like this [elite cyclists] and then we come along and have five or six of them,' Mr Curtin said.
'We might never see the likes of this again, but at least we got there.'