Under 23 Irish national road champion Eddie Dunbar has been selected to line up for the Axeon Hagens Berman Cycling team in Liège-Bastogne-Liège Espoirs (UCI 1.2U) which takes place today (Saturday April 16).
The team will have plenty of options for the U23 version of the famous classic including Trofeo Piva winner Tao Geoghegan Hart who finished in third place last year just behind winner Guillaume Martin who has since signed for Wanty Groupe Gobert.
Axeon had some very good performances at the U23 Tour of Flanders last week with Krists Neilands finishing in fifth, Americans Adrien Costa and Logan Owen seventh and 11th, respectively. Dunbar was 20th and Geoghegan Hart was 22nd, riding for Great Britain.
We spoke to Dunbar earlier this season where he confirmed that Liege is one of his targets.
“U23 Liege-Bastogne-Liege, that’ll be a good race for me and it’s possible I could get a result in that race,” Dunbar said.
His 20th place finish in the Tour of Flanders followed on from 34th in another Nations Cup race the previous week Gent-Wevelgem/Kattekoers-Ieper (1.Ncup), but Liège-Bastogne-Liège Espoirs is a race that will possibly offer him more opportunities.
A good result in the race augurs well for a promising future in the sport. Amongst the World Tour riders who have taken victory in recent years include Johan Vansummeren (AG2R La Mondiale), Michael Valgren (Tinkoff), Tosh van der Sande (Lotto Soudal), Ramunas Navardauskas (Cannondale Pro Cycling Team) and Jan Bakelants (AG2R La Mondiale).
The 178-kilometre race includes many of the climbs used in the Elite version of the race including the Cote de Wanne, Cote de la Redoute, Cote de la Roche aux Faucons and the Cote de Saint Nicolas.
Axeon-Hagens Berman Line-Up
79. William BARTA
80. Edward DUNBAR
81. Tao GEOGHEGAN HART
82. Ruben GUERREIRO
83. Krists NEILANDS
84. Logan OWEN
loved watching him race as a junior, like a lil’ sparticus. Gonna be nice to see him in pro uci teams