Vuelta a España: Dunbar surges to stage win as Roglic closes out O’Connor | Tour of Spain

Eddie Dunbar won the 11th stage of the Vuelta a España on Wednesday, with the Irishman launching a well-timed attack in the final kilometre and holding off his pursuers to triumph in the mountains around Padrón. The victory was the first major win in a Grand Tour for the 27-year-old Jayco AlUla rider.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been in a scenario like that, to be honest, and I just used my experience,” Dunbar said. “I struggled a little bit on the big climb. I just played my cards and said I was going to gamble and back my finish.”

When Dunbar accelerated ahead of the leading group, no one could keep up with him. Despite the Irishman’s small build, he successfully held off the stronger riders in the day’s leading group.

“It’s unbelievable. Since the Vuelta last year, I think I’ve crashed seven or eight times. And of course that takes its toll physically, but also mentally,” Dunbar said. “There were times when I thought maybe I didn’t have a future in the sport, because of the crashes and the injuries I’ve had.”

Dunbar beat Belgian Quinten Hermans of Alpecin-Deceuninck, who came second, and Briton Max Poole of Team DSM-Firmenich PostNL, who came third.

Australian Ben O’Connor, the overall leader, had a challenging day, finishing in 42nd place. Slovenian Primoz Roglic cut his rival’s lead by 37 seconds, closing the gap to 3min 16sec.

“It was a steep finish and there were quite a few guys who were super strong today. It’s not the worst case scenario,” O’Connor said. “I’ve had better days and that’s been the story of La Vuelta for me so far, good day, average day, good day, average day… Hopefully I can turn that around and be good every day.”