Dunbar bursts to brilliant Vuelta a Espana stage win

Ireland's Eddie Dunbar won stage 19 of the Vuelta a Espana from a breakaway to put a difficult year behind him on the slopes of Penas Blancas.

The Corkman missed almost four months of his debut season with Pinarello Q36.5 to an ankle injury he suffered when he was hit by a scooter while riding a city bike around the streets of Monte Carlo.

Dunbar blew his way past Santiago Buitrago with 350 metres left of the longest stage of this Vuelta, 211km from Velez-Malaga to the climb above Estepona.

It was only Dunbar's sixth career professional win, but three of them have come in the Vuelta after a double success in 2024. His team-mate Thomas Gloag was third on the stage after helping him mark the attacks of Buitrago as what had been a 16-man breakaway fought it out for stage honours.

Behind, late moves from Primoz Roglic and Jakob Omrzel came to nothing as the top six in the general classification crossed the line together a little over five minutes after Dunbar.

That means Enric Mas continues to lead by one minute 37 seconds from Roglic, with Felix Gall in third and Scotland’s Oscar Onley the best young rider in fifth place.

Dunbar is now 30th overall, while Darren Rafferty (EF Education - EasyPost) is 108th.