Eddie Dunbar has abandoned the UAE Tour after he fractured his hand in a crash in the finale of stage 1. The Irishman had already been forced out by a crash at his previous outing at the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana.
The opening stage of the UAE Tour was marred by a mass crash in the final kilometre and Dunbar was among the victims. His Jayco-Alula team later confirmed that he would not start Tuesday’s individual time trial.
“I had a bit of a tumble again yesterday,” Dunbar said in a video released by the team.
“Coming into the finish I was in a good position – or I thought I was.
"Basically, the crash happened and I was coming to a stop happy to avoid it and then I got hit from behind by another rider going at about 50kph or something like that. That took me off the bike and straight over the handlebars and I took all the weight on my right-hand side.”
Last year, Dunbar missed two months of racing early in the season after breaking his hand in another crash at the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, though he recovered in time to lead Jayco-Alula at the Giro d’Italia, placing 7th overall in Rome. He later suffered the disappointment of abandoning the Vuelta a España following a crash in the neutralised zone on stage 5.
Dunbar has again made the Giro the centrepiece of his 2024 season, and he will hope this latest setback will not upset his preparation unduly. The 27-year-old had been expected to line out at April’s Tour of the Alps as part of his build-up to the corsa rosa.
“I ended up with a small fracture in my hand, similar to the one last year, just a different bone,” he said.
“I’m disappointed. I crashed in Valencia, and now here. It’s more difficult mentally than physically at this point. I’ll go to see a hand specialist, see what the next steps are and then re-plan the next few weeks.”
