Eddie Dunbar has been forced to withdraw from his debut Tour de France, with the Cork rider the sole non-starter on Saturday’s stage to Laval.
Although X-rays taken Friday evening following his stage seven crash did not reveal a fracture, his Jayco AlUla team confirmed on Saturday that he was out of the race.
“Following a crash in the final kilometres of yesterday’s stage, Dunbar has been suffering with pain in his wrist and a decision was taken to stop, for his safety,” it said in a media announcement.
Dunbar held off on a decision until shortly before Saturday’s stage, hoping that a night’s rest would help in his recovery.
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However, the risk of further damage plus a likely difficulty in holding the handlebars and pulling brakes made continuing in the race a very difficult ask.
He will now undergo additional examinations to ensure the initial tests on Friday were correct.
Dunbar was one of approximately a dozen riders who fell heavily inside the final 6km of Friday’s stage. Fellow Irishman Ben Healy also came down but had a softer landing and was able to continue in the Tour.
The withdrawal is a blow for Dunbar, who has had multiple crashes in races since turning professional. He crashed out of last year’s Giro d’Italia but bounced back to win two stages in the Vuelta a España.
He was in fine form in his debut Tour, finishing fourth on Thursday’s stage six, which was won by Healy, who was part of the same breakaway.
Had Dunbar not crashed out he had a good chance of chasing his own stage win. He will now refocus on upcoming events, and should be able to resume training relatively soon if he further results show he hasn’t suffered any fractures.
The Vuelta a España, which begins in Turin in Italy on August 23rd, may be a possibility.
Dunbar is in the final year of his current contract with Jayco AlUla, but it’s believed he has already received at least one offer for next season, taking the pressure off.
Still, victory on a stage of the Tour de France would have boosted his salary wherever he ends up.
Healy remains in 11th position on general classification after he came home in 28th position on Saturday as Italy’s Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) fought off Belgian Wout van Aert to win stage eight from Saint-Meen-le-Grand to Laval, with defending champion Tadej Pogacar retaining the yellow jersey.
Milan, riding his first Tour, looked to have been caught off guard when Australian Kaden Groves (Alpecin–Deceuninck) hit the front, but the Italian battled back to take the lead and held off the challenge of Van Aert, while Groves came in third.
Slovenia’s Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) remains 54 seconds ahead of Belgian Remco Evenepoel (Soudal–Quick-Step) in the overall standings.
Milan came close on stage three, beaten into second place by Tim Merlier, but this time the Italian, who has four Giro d’Italia stage wins to his name, powered home ahead of the experienced Van Aert who was chasing his 10th individual Tour stage win.
“In the third one, we were pretty close to the victory,” Milan said.
“We know that we just went a bit too early but today we were really focused, we were really believing in it. My guys did an amazing job until the final. It was a really tough final.”
After the last few action-packed stages, where the yellow jersey went back and forth between Pogacar and Mathieu Van der Poel, Saturday’s race was expected to be a chance for the sprinters to return to the fore on the mostly flat 171.4km ride.
The peloton trundled along for the opening 90km, apart from a brief spurt at the intermediate sprint where Milan took maximum points, before French duo Matteo Vercher and Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies) launched the first attack.
With several teams looking to set up their sprinters for the stage win, the break was never allowed to get too far ahead, though they managed to extend their lead to just over one minute with 20km remaining.
Burgaudeau went solo with 13km to go but was reeled in by the chasing pack after four kilometres and the tactical game of cat and mouse began.
Van Aert took the wheel of Groves as the Australian’s Alpecin–Deceuninck team led the bunch into the final kilometre. Groves went early and did not have the legs to hold off Milan, while the Italian was able to withstand Van Aert’s late burst.
Milan is the first Italian Tour de France stage winner since Vincenzo Nibali in 2019 and, having worn the green jersey on behalf of Pogacar in Saturday’s stage, Milan is now the leader of the points classification.
Sunday’s stage nine takes the riders 174.1km from Chinon to Chateauroux, a flat ride where the sprinters will again fancy their chances.
