Cycling - La Vuelta 2024 - Eddie Dunbar : "It’s weird how it goes sometimes... I thought that I might not have a future in the sport"
La plus belle victoire de sa carrière ! A 27 ans, Eddie Dunbar a remporté ce mercredi la 11e étape du Tour d'Espagne, réalisant un coup de maître dans le dernier kilomètre pour surprendre tous ses compagnons d'échappée avant le sprint final. Un succès libérateur qui intervient après plusieurs mois compliqué sur le plan des résultats, lui qui galérait à confirmer sa très bonne 7e place sur le Tour d'Italie 2023 qui l'avait propulsé sur le devant de la scène. Malchanceux suite à de nombreuses chutes, l'Irlandais de l'équipe Jayco-AlUla misait beaucoup sur cette Vuelta pour se relancer... et s'il a vite déchanté pour le général, c'est désormais chose faite grâce à cette victoire pleine de maîtrise. "C’est bizarre comment les choses se font parfois...", a-t-il confié, ému, en interview d'après-course.
Video : @GreenEDGEteam
Video : @GreenEDGEteam
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00:00Yeah, it's weird that we call sometimes, you know, I mean, I
00:29really bad start to the race and I lost a lot of time. I came
00:32here to ride GC and I learned pretty quick that, uh, yeah, I
00:36probably didn't have the legs to do it. And, uh, yeah, my
00:40preparation was really good here. So then it was kind of
00:43just reassess and go for a stage. And today came an
00:45opportunity, um, that I didn't expect because I tried hard to
00:49start to get in the break and, um, yeah, I just thought that
00:53was my legs gone. And then all of a sudden the big group went
00:55and I taught me and people rode very well in the break and we
00:59were really smart. And, uh, yeah, here we are. I actually
01:02can't believe it.
01:07Um, I haven't been in, it's been a while since I've been in a
01:11scenario like this, if I'm honest. And, uh, yeah, I just
01:14kind of used my experience. Um, I was suffering a bit in that
01:17steep climb. Then I realized everyone else was, I peed off
01:20the road. So that kind of let me take a backseat. Um, so I just
01:25paid my cards and I said, I gamble and, um, back my finish.
01:28Um, I know when finished like this, um, after a hard race, I
01:32can sprint. And, uh, but I knew I had to go long to go on with
01:36600 to go. Yeah. It's probably a bit long for a sprint, but, uh,
01:39that's what I had to do to win. And, uh, yeah, I can't, I can't
01:42believe it.
01:43You've had seven down, even before La Vuelta, you crashed at
01:47the Giro. What does it mean for you to finally be in the Giro?
01:52It's incredible. I mean, yeah, since La Vuelta last year, I
01:56think I've had seven or eight crashes. Um, and of course,
01:59physically that, that takes its toll, but mentally it took its
02:02toll on me as well. You know, um, I've had numerous times in
02:06my head where I thought, um, yeah, that I might not have a
02:09future in the sport just because of the crashes and the injuries
02:12I've had. And this year after the Giro, um, yeah, when I
02:17injured my LCL, I thought that was, yeah, I thought that could
02:21be the nail in the coffin, as they say, in terms of my cycling
02:25career. And, um, yeah, but I've, I've incredible support around
02:29me. My girlfriend, Niamh, she's supported me since then. Well,
02:32forever since then, but she's always there for me and I have
02:35an incredible group of family and friends and the team, they
02:38back me so much as well. And, uh, yeah, it's been a long time
02:42coming, but just to repay all of them today is, uh, means a lot.