Irish Under 23 Road Race champion Eddie Dunbar is set to be out of action for at least a month after breaking his collarbone yesterday according to his Axeon Hagens Berman team.

Dunbar was on a motor-pacing training ride 60 kilometres his home in Banteer, Co. Cork when the accident happened.

“I went around the corner and the side of the road was not in the best condition,” Dunbar explained on the team’s website. “I managed to keep control of my bike, but I hit a metal guardrail and went flying over the handlebars.”

“It happened so quickly. Kind of in the blink of an eye,” he said of Wednesday’s crash. “I was very lucky. I was probably going 50 or 60 kilometers an hour. It could have been a lot worse, especially if there had been a car coming on the other side of the road.

Axeon Hagens Berman General Manager Axel Merckx said Dunbar will undergo surgery later this week and could be back on his Specialized S-Works Tarmac on a trainer about a week after that.

“He should be able to start racing again about a month from now,” Merckx said. “For sure it is a big loss. I know he was targeting the Amgen Tour of California in a big way. It’s one of the reasons guys come to this team, to do those big races.”

Already this season, Dunbar helped win the team classification at the Volta ao Alentejo in Portugal and he was part of the team this past Saturday as Logan Owen won the Under 23 edition of Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

“Breaking his collarbone is very unfortunate,” Merckx said. “But we have many more races coming after this and he should be able to get some results for himself. We have a strong team so I know we have a bunch of guys who can step up. But I am disappointed for him because I know he has been putting in a lot of training.”

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