Eddie Dunbar delighted at ninth place in world championship time-trial

Ireland’s Eddie Dunbar produced one of the performances of his career yesterday when he finished ninth in the men’s U23 time-trial at the UCI world championships in Doha.

The 20-year-old Corkman scorched around the 28.9km course in a time of 35:29, just 1’21” slower than winner Marco Mathis from Germany with the latter’s teammate Maximilian Schachmann taking silver and Australian Miles Scotson rounding out the podium.

Dunbar had been expected to find the going tough on a flat course that suited physically bigger men but he paid no respect to that notion as he set a blistering early tempo. He was well-placed at all the intermediate time checks and though several of the top contenders faded in the near 40-degree temperatures, the Axeon Hagens Berman professional maintained his speed throughout.