Overhyped? 18 Yr-Old Irish Kid 20-1 For Le Tour

[TMJ]

Ever heard of Eddie Dunbar? Well, obviously they are doing it for PR, but bookies are offering odds on the teenage Cork native to win the Tour de France in his lifetime at a miserly 20-1.

If you think those odds are short check out the 11-8 offered for him to win a stage in the tour.

Believe me I am no PR shill, I just wanted to bring his name to this forum and find anyone who has strong views on the lad's prospects.

The biggest race he has ever entered is this year's Tour of Yorkshire, where he crashed out with a broken collarbone on Stage 1 chasing King of the Mountains points.

I've read an interview where he says he's more likely to win the Vuelta or Giro than the Tour because of the parcours!

Confidence certainly doesn't seem to be a problem. Good luck to him.

 

[BigMac]

Yeah, there was talks of this after his performances at the Irish Nationals. Best 'o luck. Odd odds, though.

 

[Gigs_98]

Its so idiotic to put so much pressure on a 18 year old teenager. In Austria we often have such problems with skiers because the press notices them when they are 15 or 16 and makes a huge hype around them. After that they have so much pressure in the races that they never become very successful.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

You see these long price bets on youngsters: Rory McIlroy's father famously got 500/1 when he was 14 on him wining the British Open before he was 26. My brother only got 66/1 a year later on him winning any major before 2020 (but still won several thousand!).
We have bets lodged on my cousin's nine year old golfing prodigy son...

20/1 seems rather stingy

 

[jsem94]

20/1 is ridiculous. Let's all collectively empty our wallets and pray

 

[PremierAndrew]

Sigh. Was going to bet on him as well...

 

[Jonhard]

NFTO rate him this year, he's done quite well in the national road series at times. But a lot needs to happen before he is a World Tour level rider.

 

[lemon cheese cake]

He just couldnt stop attacking at Velothon Wales. During an U23 world cup race in France he was off the front for 180km+ solo and still finished 3rd.

 

[Gloin22]

PaddyPower is the biggest joke of a bookie ever created, so it matches the bet nicely.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

It would be a case of crazy over hype if people involved in cycling were seriously making this sort of prediction about a teenager, but that's not really the case. Offering odds is just a publicity stunt by a rather obnoxious bookmaking firm that specialises in stupid publicity stunts. Dunbar has got a bit of coverage as a "prodigy", so said company is trying to grab a bit of that coverage. Nothing more to it than that. The funny part about it is that the odds are so low - they clearly don't want to take the risk of offering actually attractive odds, just in case.

As for Dunbar himself, well he's as good as any 18 year old I've seen in a very long time. He was by far the best junior in Ireland or Britain and he was immediately one of the half dozen or so strongest riders on the British Conti scene from his first races out of the junior ranks this year. But the thing is, he's 18. You simply can't tell how an 18 year old will develop. He could be a star in the making, or he could just be an exceptionally early developer whose prospective top end isn't that much better than he currently is, or he could be at any point in between. Nobody can possibly know. About all you can say with any certainty is that he'll be good enough to have some kind of pro career, because he's already not far off that.

Much the same goes for the other much hyped Irish kid, Ryan Mullen. The U23 worlds TT podium is an excellent predictor as far as a decent pro career is concerned. Probably all the more so when you are perhaps the youngest rider in the field. But beyond that, being great at 19 or 20 doesn't really provide much of a guarantee that you will be great at 28.

 

[GuyIncognito]

Re:

PaddyPower is the biggest joke of a bookie ever created, so it matches the bet nicely.

Remember MSR last year? Somebody posted here before the race that Kristoff was on some ridiculously long odd and we all had a laugh. Some people put down a bet.

Then he won. Paddy Power odds tend to be dumb.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Re:

PaddyPower is the biggest joke of a bookie ever created, so it matches the bet nicely.

Generally speaking they have the best odds on the marker. By far.

 

[ILovecycling]

Re: Re:

PaddyPower is the biggest joke of a bookie ever created, so it matches the bet nicely.

Generally speaking they have the best odds on the marker. By far.

This.Im really dumb that I havent created an account there yet

As for the irish guys, I agree that its not appropriate to put a pressure on a cyclist who is only trying to get his thousands of km into his legs a not being any kind of special yet.

 

[Ruby United]

Its so idiotic to put so much pressure on a 18 year old teenager. In Austria we often have such problems with skiers because the press notices them when they are 15 or 16 and makes a huge hype around them. After that they have so much pressure in the races that they never become very successful.

Well, he himself said he isn't going to stop till he wins the Tour and that he doesn't want to be 'the next Chris Froome or the next Alberto Contador" but "the next Eddie Dunbar."
It seems, that he, like Andy Murray for example, enjoys pressure. This often leads to motivation and determination for some riders.

 

[gooner]

He just couldnt stop attacking at Velothon Wales. During an U23 world cup race in France he was off the front for 180km+ solo and still finished 3rd.

That was the race Merckx went up to him and praised him.

I seen a quite a few articles in the local newspapers here in Cork about him. As was said above, he's not short of confidence.

The hype is ridiculous. Paddy Power love linking their name to these things. Just look at their recent stunt with Ginola running for FIFA president.

 

[lemon cheese cake]

He just couldnt stop attacking at Velothon Wales. During an U23 world cup race in France he was off the front for 180km+ solo and still finished 3rd.

That was the race Merckx went up to him and praised him.

I seen a quite a few articles in the local newspapers here in Cork about him. As was said above, he's not short of confidence.

The hype is ridiculous. Paddy Power love linking their name to these things. Just look at their recent stunt with Ginola running for FIFA president.

Yeah. I forgot to put that.

 

[grizzlee]

Just hearing on the grapevine that he is being offered a contract at Cannondale. Tough decision for the kid. His NFTO team are going pro conti next year.

 

[Inquitus]

Kid has some serious Talent, be good to see how he develops, stupid odds being offered aside.

 

[ferryman]

Two things, PP have been offering a 'rider special' on Dunbar in the TDF for at least a year now, probably longer if my memory serves me correctly. Also, for betting on cycling, I've not found a better firm in the UK. You can just about get a bet on any race and usually 'in play' right up to the final few Ks...

 

[StannisBaratheon]

I wonder what were Froome's odds of winning le Tour 5 years ago.

 

[luckyboy]

I've read an interview where he says he's more likely to win the Vuelta or Giro than the Tour because of the parcours!

Rouleur? I did that interview

 

[Inquitus]

I've read an interview where he says he's more likely to win the Vuelta or Giro than the Tour because of the parcours!

Rouleur? I did that interview

Although he (Dunbar) did an epic ride in the Irish National TT this year, 25 seconds behind winner Ryan Mullen and he didn't have a disk on the back and raced a TT bike with a less than optimal Aero setup, which surprised.

 

[BigMac]

I've read an interview where he says he's more likely to win the Vuelta or Giro than the Tour because of the parcours!

Rouleur? I did that interview

Nice, props for the interview!

 

[rallybanana]

There's been a bit of discussion about Eddie Dunbar in recent days on the lesser known races and transfer rumours threads. It feels like an opportune time for revisiting this thread.

The big question is... if he leaves Ineos, can he salvage his career and win the Tour de France in his lifetime?

 

[GenericBoonenFan]

There's been a bit of discussion about Eddie Dunbar in recent days on the lesser known races and transfer rumours threads. It feels like an opportune time for revisiting this thread.

The big question is... if he leaves Ineos, can he salvage his career and win the Tour de France in his lifetime?

At this point he hasn't shown that yet...

He should really get out of Ineos, they're wasting his talent...
He has ridden one GT and that was back in 2019...