Team Jayco AlUla (Spain) - Press Release: Dunbar soars to dominant second victory at La Vuelta on Picón Blanco.

Irish eyes were smiling again as Eddie Dunbar soared to his second victory of the 2024 Vuelta a España on stage 20.

Dunbar had already notched up his debut Grand Tour stage win in the second week, but he wanted more. He bided his time in the group of favourites as it was whittled down by successive tough climbs before launching a daring move with just under five kilometres to go.

The 28-year-old, who moved up to 11th in the general classification with his victory, powered his way over to the lone leader Pavel Sivakov before going solo himself. With the gradients pitching up to 18 percent, Dunbar had to dig deep into his reserves to hold the chasers at bay, in what was a nail-biting finale.

Despite the GC leaders behind attempting to shut his move down, the Irishman kept his cool and rode his own pace up the brutally steep ascents to take yet another win in what has been a very successful Vuelta a España for Team Jayco AlUla.

In addition to Dunbar’s two stage wins, Mauro Schmid and Filippo Zana delivered the team to three brilliant second places between them with one stage remaining.
 
Eddie Dunbar:

“I always knew it was going to be a really difficult stage but with the way the last three weeks have been ridden I just thought that a lot of guys would be tired today, especially GC guys who have gone to the limit every day. I’m a bit behind on GC, I knew that if I stayed with them and did everything right in the last week, I’d have a chance to maybe get the stage win today. I was never going to be let go in the breakaway, but I always believed I could win today.

I knew if I just kept pacing myself and kept riding at threshold, if someone was going to come across it was going to take a big effort, so I paced myself really well. It wasn’t until about 200 metres to go that I thought I could probably hold them off, when I looked back and saw a bit of daylight there. I was just enjoying that last 50 metres.”

Valerio Piva (Sport Director):

“It’s fantastic. We knew that Eddie was in good shape and super motivated for the stage today to move in GC but also to do a good result. The victory was a dream and now we have it as a reality. I’m very happy for him. The team helped him for as long as possible and he saw a good moment when all the leaders were looking at each other and they were without helpers. He was amazingly strong because to stay in front when the leaders are attacking each other is not easy and he showed a fantastic quality and shape. He has finished this Vuelta in very top shape and that is fantastic for him and for us.”