The Vuelta a España continues to be very sweet for Eddie Dunbar. The Irish rider of Pinarello Q36.5, who had been without victories since the two successes he achieved on this Grand Tour two years ago, has reconnected with winning by claiming the Vélez-Málaga-Peñas Blancas. Estepona stage of 210 kilometers. Decisive for the thirty-year-old from Banteer was the attack launched 350 meters from the finish line that allowed him to drop Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) and cross the line in first position ahead of the Colombian and his teammate Thomas Gloag.

A great day for the Swiss team was completed by the fifth place of Spanish national champion Marcel Camprubí, who, like his teammates, was clever to enter the numerous breakaway that formed after the second climb of the day at Puerto del Viento.

Behind them, the battle among the big names in the general classification remained limited to a couple of fruitless attempts at a breakaway by Richard Carapaz (EF Education Easypost) at a great distance from the finish: on the final climb, in fact, control and caution dominated, with the result that Enric Mas (Movistar) is now, with just two stages remaining, even closer to bringing home the final victory.

THE RACE

From the start, as was easily foreseeable, attacks begin to try to get away with the breakaway of the day. The winning move seems to be the one that, at a certain point, allows Ivo Oliveira (UAE Emirates XRG), Bastien Tronchon (Groupama-FDJ United), Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility), Steven Kruijswijk (Visma-Lease a Bike), Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility) and Jasha Sütterlin (Jayco AlUla) to gain almost a minute's advantage, but once they reach the slopes of the first climb of the day, the cards are immediately reshuffled.

Pulled by the EF men, in fact, the peloton closes in significantly on the six leaders and this triggers a new wave of attacks that makes the race situation extremely fluid and chaotic with increasingly more riders who, in turn, manage to rejoin the breakaway riders. At the front, a decidedly large group thus forms which, once they pass over the top of Puerto de las Abejas, is completely reabsorbed by the red jersey group with the exception of Eddie Dunbar (Pinarello Q 36.5).

The Irishman, persisting solo, passes first over the top of Puerto del Viento after which, while behind him Carapaz tries both on the climb and on the descent to get away without success, he is caught by another sixteen riders: Kevin Vermaerke (UAE Team Emirates - XRG), Pablo Castrillo (Movistar Team), Marcel Camprubí and Thomas Gloag (Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team), Santiago Buitrago and Pau Miquel (Bahrain - Victorious), Guillaume Martin, Rudy Molard and Bastien Tronchon (Groupama - FDJ United), Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility), Sergio Samitier (Cofidis), Darren Van Bekkum (XDS Astana Team), Chris Hamilton (Team Picnic PostNL), Urko Berrade and Mats Wenzel (Equipo Kern Pharma).

This group of riders, having no one in the front positions of the general classification, receives the "green light" from the peloton and thus, without particular effort, manages to gain an advantage of over 7 minutes that allows them to reach the foothills of the final climb of Peñas Blancas with the certainty of being able to fight for the stage victory.

On the long final climb, after a couple of vain attempts by Molard, it is Buitrago who takes on the task of selecting the stage victory contenders by attacking decisively at -13.2 km from the finish. Only the duo of Pinarello Q36.5 Gloag-Dunbar and Berrade follow him, who, once they catch the wheel of the South American, begin to take regular turns to prevent the others from catching back up. The quartet proceeds thus in common accord until two thousand meters from the line when Buitrago launches what initially seems to be the decisive attack: Dunbar, however, is not having it and, finding the strength to drop Gloag and Berrade, launches in pursuit of the Colombian who, meanwhile, is progressively fading, thus favoring the catch-up and overtake of the Irishman which, punctually, materializes 350 meters from the finish.

The native of Banteer in this way, after a rather complicated period for him, finds victory on the roads of the race that for the last time had seen him raise his arms to the sky and, as the cherry on top, gives his team the first victory in a Grand Tour since it assumed its current name.

Buitrago, on the other hand, chews on bitter disappointment, as despite securing the mountain classification, he picks up another frustrating second place after the one he suffered six days ago at Sierra de la Pandera, a stage where, shifting focus to the men fighting for the general classification, there had been more movement than today's. Finishing practically all together, today the top six in the general classification remained where they were and with only one high mountain stage left to tackle (the Calahorra-Collado del Alguacil of 186.8 kilometers with three 1st Category climbs and the final climb of Special Category), the terrain to try to shake things up, or in any case improve one's placement, is now almost exhausted.

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FINISHING ORDER

1. Eddie Dunbar (IRL/Pinarello-Q36.5) - 5:00:54

2. Santiago Buitrago (COL/Bahrain-Victorious) at 0:14

3. Thomas Gloag (GBR/Pinarello-Q36.5) at 0:23

4. Urko Berrade (SPA/Kern Pharma) at 0:44

5. Marcel Camprubí (SPA/Pinarello-Q36.5) at 1:44

6. Andreas Leknessund (NOR/Uno-X Mobility) at 2:01

7. Guillaume Martin (FRA/Groupama-FDJ United) at 2:11

8. Chris Hamilton (AUS/Picnic-PostNL) at 2:39

9. Kevin Vermaerke (USA/UAE Emirates-XRG) at 3:03

10. Sergio Samitier (SPA/Cofidis) at 3:17

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION

1. Enric Mas (SPA/Movistar) - 65:52:03

2. Primoz Roglic (SLO/Red Bull-Bora) at 1:37

3. Felix Gall (AUT/Decathlon-CMA CGM) at 3:01

4. Richard Carapaz (ECU/EF Education-EasyPost) at 5:17

5. Oscar Onley (GBR/Netcompany-Ineos) at 6:03

6. Jakob Omrzel (SLO/Bahrain-Victorious) at 7:06

7. Clément Berthet (FRA/Groupama-FDJ United) at 7:57

8. Cristian Rodríguez (SPA/XDS-Astana) at 8:21

9. Mattias Skjelmose (DAN/Lidl-Trek) at 9:06

10. Harold Tejada (COL/XDS-Astana) at 10:27

OTHER CLASSIFICATIONS

Points Classification: Wout Van Aert (BEL/Visma Lease a Bike)

Mountain Classification: Santiago Buitrago (COL/Bahrain-Victorious)

Best Young Rider Classification: Oscar Onley (GBR/Netcompany INEOS)