Eddie Dunbar in tears after stunning Vuelta stage win: 'I didn't think I'd even be here'

Eddie Dunbar won Friday's 19th stage of the Vuelta a España. The Pinarello-Q36.5 Irishman held off mountains classification leader Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) on Peñas Blancas, and the victory came as a surprise — not least to Dunbar himself. Dunbar couldn’t hold back his tears afterward.

"It's incredible. I really didn't expect this today. I even said on the radio after about 50 or 60 kilometres that it wasn't my day and that I wasn't feeling good," said the Irishman, who also won two stages of the Vuelta a España two years ago.

"I ended up in the breakaway anyway and my legs came around a bit. I also had two teammates with me in the break, which always helps. That made me feel a lot more comfortable. It gave me some peace of mind, because I knew that if anything happened on the flat or on a descent, I would always have somebody there with me," he explained in the post-stage flash interview.

"They did an amazing job. Having Tom [Gloag] there in the final made a big difference. This year I had three months out where I couldn't ride my bike at all after a serious accident," Dunbar said. He was referring to the incident in March when he was hit by a scooter in Monaco, where he lives, suffering a serious ankle injury that kept him off the bike for an extended period.

"I really didn't think I'd even be here, let alone competing for stage wins. Just being here already means a lot, so yeah... I can hardly believe it."

Buitrago appeared to have made the decisive move in the finale, but Dunbar managed to reel him in during the final kilometre. "I wish I had the same legs as Buitrago, because the attacks he was putting in were incredibly strong. I had to be smart with the energy I had. I knew I still had one really good acceleration left in my legs, and I wanted to save that to try to win the stage."

"When it really kicked off on the steepest section, around 12 kilometres from the finish, I deliberately rode at my own pace because I didn't want to go too deep. That allowed me to come back. And again, having Tom there gave me that extra bit of security. To be honest, I actually thought Tom was going to win today because he looked so strong. But in the end, having the numerical advantage played perfectly into our hands. That last kilometre went by so quickly that I can barely remember what actually happened," he concluded.