Eddie Dunbar finishes 9th in U23 TT at UCI 2016 Road World Championships

Ireland’s Eddie Dunbar has finished an impressive 9th place in the U23 Time Trial at the UCI 2016 Road World Championships in Doha, Qatar. After a conservative start, the Corkman who rides for the Axeon Hagens Berman team finished strongly on the 28.9km course and climbed into ninth place in the closing kilometres.

Also in action was first year U23 rider Michael O’Loughlin who finished 45th in the race that was won by Marco Mathis of Germany. Silver also went to Germany with Maximilian Schachmann beating Australia’s Miles Scotson into bronze.

Dunbar’s ninth place was particularly impressive considering the flat profile of the course. The expert climber gradually overtook riders on the leader board in the closing kilometres, finishing in a time of 35.29.68, 1 minute 21.59 seconds outside the winning time of Mathis (34.08.09).

Speaking after the race Dunbar, who is normally suited to hillier races with a smaller build, was delighted with his finish result saying “The course was pan flat, not ideal for a rider of my build, but sometimes you have to go fast on the flat too! I’m really happy with the race. Myself and Brian [Nugent – Technical Director] had a strategy in place, and it really helped. I rode kind of on feel, but looking at cadence and power as well. I got some good advice from people, and I used that in the race.”

On handling the 38 degree heat Dunbar felt his pre-race preparation helped; “I spent a week in Majorca [training base of Cycling Ireland] training before the worlds, training in gilets and warm clothes, and I also spent a lot of time on my Time Trial bike, it paid off in a way. Ninth in the World Championships – I’m really happy with that.”

Following his 45th place finish O’Loughlin described tough racing conditions on a day where the temperature was in the high 30s: “Racing in that kind of heat was like nothing I’ve ever done before. I felt good after 5 minutes, I had settled in nicely, but once I turned into the headwind it was like riding into a hairdryer! It was 38 degrees here this morning; the locals can’t believe there’s a bike race going on in the middle of the day.”

Riding for Team Wiggins this year, the promising young U23 rider from Waterford used the race as valuable race experience saying: “I’m not too bothered about my results – what I’ll gain from most is the actual experience. I’ve never raced in this kind of heat before, and I’ll know what to expect again. It was hard to stay hydrated, and then you have to concentrate a lot more at the technical sections later in the race, concentrating on the corners in that heat was hard!”

Cycling Ireland Technical Director Brian Nugent was impressed with both Dunbar and O’Loughlin saying: “The conditions were tough but the boys coped with it well. Eddie was fantastic; he rode steadily into the effort having seen what was going on earlier in the day with the heat and he finished so strong.”

Next up for Ireland is Anna Turvey in the Elite Women’s TT tomorrow at 11.50am tomorrow. Racing in Doha begins with the Time Trials from the 10th – 12th October, with the Road Races taking place from the 14th – 16th October.