'I was as close as you can get to calling it a day' - Eddie Dunbar and the year of the comeback

Eddie Dunbar keeps getting back up. It was already the overarching theme of his cycling life, and it was once again the story of his season. And the tale repeated itself all over again in the month or so since he claimed a sparkling stage win at the Vuelta a España.

The Irishman’s maiden season at Pinarello-Q36.5 looked to have been ruined by a freak accident that curtailed his spring and summer programme, but he thrashed his way back into shape in time for the Vuelta and then doggedly hunted a stage win across the three weeks.

After a series of valiant efforts came up short, Dunbar finally got his reward on stage 19, when he caught and passed Santiago Buitrago on the upper reaches of Peñas Blancas to claim a victory of heightened emotion.

A day later, Dunbar was brought back to earth with a familiar clatter, when he hit a pothole ahead of the final ascent to Collado del Alguacil. For the third time in his career, he had broken his collarbone. 

His Vuelta was over, but not his season. After losing such a hefty block of racing early in the year, Dunbar was loath to let injury end his campaign early. Barely more than a month later, he was back in the peloton for Thursday’s Gran Piemonte.

“I had three months where I missed racing and a good bit of training as well, so I just thought it was probably a bit soon just to end the season after the Vuelta,” Dunbar told Domestique in Asti. 

“I know I’d basically got the whole Vuelta in the legs, even if obviously I missed the last stage, but it was just important just to get back on the bike and then to try and build up. And training’s gone well. Obviously, racing's a different story, but we’ll see how I am.”

Dunbar has spoken candidly about the toll his litany of crashes has taken on his mind as well as his body over the years. On the face of it, the riot of emotions on the final weekend of the Vuelta – from the ecstasy of stage victory to the agony of another ambulance ride – seemed especially cruel, but when the dust settled, the Banteer man was mainly just relieved he had notched up the big win before bad luck sought him out again.

“It did make it easier, funnily enough,” Dunbar said. “I’ve broken my collarbone a couple of times now as well, so I knew it was kind of a quick fix, but having the win the day before definitely made it easier to take. I was trying to focus on that rather than on the crash, and that helped the recovery.”

Dunbar’s resilience was tested to greater extremes in the spring, when he suffered a broken ankle in utterly maddening circumstances in Monaco. A day after abandoning Paris-Nice due to a crash, Dunbar was hit by a scooter while riding on his city bike the following day. 

At first, the expectation was that Dunbar would make a swift return to racing, but a visit to a specialist in Kilkenny confirmed that the rehabilitation would take months rather than weeks.

Understandably, Dunbar didn’t advertise it widely at the time, but there was a period in the spring when he thought his career was over. Closing in on his 30th birthday and after enduring so many injuries and heartaches and stoppage over the years, he wondered if the time had come to walk away.

“I’d say at one point I was probably done, you know,” Dunbar said. “Like, I probably kind of made the decision for a day or two. I can’t put a number on how I close I was or anything like that, but I was very, very close – as close as you can get, I think, to calling it a day.”

The cloud eventually lifted and Dunbar was back in the peloton by the Sibiu Tour in July and back on the podium by the end of the Vuelta in September. Although he still has Il Lombardia and, potentially, the Veneto Classic on his agenda, Dunbar is already looking with renewed confidence to a fresh start in 2027.

“In the space of three months, I was able to get back to a level of winning a stage of a Grand Tour,” Dunbar said. “That’s a massive confidence boost that I can take into the next few years, because most guys only take two or three weeks off now even in the off-season.”

This year, mind, Dunbar might allow himself a slightly longer break in the off-season. His long absence from racing in the spring certainly won’t tempt into starting his 2027 training too early, and with good reason: in November, he will marry his partner Niamh.

“I want to get married in November so that’ll take priority this off-season,” Dunbar smiled. “There’s plenty of time build up through the winter, so I’ll take a normal break. And even though I had a block without racing this year, it’s not a rest mentally when you’re injured and recovering and trying to get back. You’re off the bike, but that doesn’t mean you’re relaxed. So yeah, I’m just going to relax and enjoy the wedding.”