Quick Chat – Eddie Dunbar (NFTO)

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Quick chat with Eddie Dunbar of NFTO following his crash on stage 1 of the Tour of Yorkshire

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Quick Chat – Eddie Dunbar (NFTO)

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On stage 1 of the Tour of Yorkshire, a first year senior from Ireland, Eddie Dunbar (NFTO) went on the attack and was winning the mountain sprints easily until he came crashing down on a slippery descent and had to pull out of the race.

Off to hospital he went and it wasn’t until the last day of the race that he returned to the NFTO Winnerbago where VeloUK caught up with him. Signing shirts, posing for pictures, this was a long way from the domestic races he’s been doing and his chance at showing what he could do had been cruelly taken away from him.

“I am really gutted because on Friday I felt really strong. The break got caught earlier than I thought but I was quite happy that Sky brought it back because that gave me the opportunity to save more energy for Robin Hoods Bay where I was going to try and do something.”

“The lads had me a really good position for the next KoM but the weather changed in the space of a minute and we went round a corner and down I went. Nothing I could do about it and when I got up, I knew something was wrong as I had never felt like that after a crash”.

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“It’s the first time I have broken something in cycling. I have crashed heavy before but never like this. I did show what I could do a bit but not as much as I could have.”

“The lads though rode superb. We were third team in line and I am gutted for them because they worked so hard for me and I couldn’t give them anything in return. The RAS (Ireland) is out of the question now but I should be back for the Velothon Wales (UCI race). “I’m going to take a week off and relax. It’s about four weeks before the Velothon which is more than enough time for me to get back.”

“I won’t lose much fitness with this and with a couple of British races, I should be back to normal”.

“I didn’t know what to expect in the race. The lads in the team have raced at that level and were giving me advice but I never over think anything and I’ll race who ever is there, whether it’s Sky or Madison Genesis. I would have taken the race to them had I stayed upright but it wasn’t to be but that’s cycling and I’ll come back stronger”.

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When I put it to Eddie that getting in breaks in such races is not easy otherwise all the British team pros would be in one, and that it was special he managed to do that, he replied “a lot of people know I’m quite good at getting into a break!”

“I kind of had an idea where it would go though. I wasn’t supposed to be in the break, that wasn’t the plan, but Sky went to the front in the cross winds and smashed it and it was in one line. Three riders went away and I just had to do it and I went across. That was it. I then went after the KoMs and that was the job for the day and I am pretty sure I could have hung on to that jersey.”

“I have a lot of confidence now in going forward and am not phased by racing at that level at all”.

Good luck to Eddie who had key hole surgery today and will on that bike pronto!

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