THE SHORT ANSWER
Eddie Dunbar, irish pro cyclist, jayco-alula, has appeared on the Roadman Cycling Podcast. Here's where Dunbar lands on periodisation. The positions below are drawn from those conversations, quoted directly.
WHO IS EDDIE DUNBAR?
Eddie Dunbar is the Irish climber who turned a near-career-ending sequence of injuries and team transitions into two Vuelta stage wins in 2024 and a 2026 move to Q36.5 alongside Tom Pidcock. From Aqua Blue Sport to Team Sky to INEOS to Jayco-AlUla and now Q36.5, his career has been the modern WorldTour journeyman story — and his honesty about how close he came to being out of the sport makes him a rare voice on what genuine resilience looks like at the top end. For the Irish audience and the broader masters base, he is a credible model for staying in the fight when the data says you should not.
DUNBAR ON PERIODISATION
Dunbar’s key positions on periodisation.
- Climbing form is built on consistent base years, not single training blocks — the riders who hold WorldTour climbing legs are the ones who never lost their base.
- Team fit matters more than team prestige — being a domestique at INEOS taught Dunbar what he could not do, but a leadership role at Q36.5 will reveal what he can.
- Stage racing is a recovery game — the Vuelta wins came after he stopped chasing every breakaway and started managing the three-week load.
- Injuries do not have to end careers — the rebuild model is to come back as a slightly different rider, not the same one.
- Irish cycling now has a structural pathway — coaches, junior racing, sponsors — that was missing in the post-Roche decades. Dunbar is part of that proof.
IN DUNBAR’S OWN WORDS
Verbatim from Eddie Dunbar’s appearances on the podcast.
“I did jiren 2019 and i think i went in on like it was less than a week's notice i got and uh yeah i loved it i loved every minute of it and um i just the minute i finished i wanted to do another one um and i actually rode um quite well in the three weeks there so it's just kind of um yeah i kind of just craved to do another one and um it just the opportunity never came up unfortunately”
“I got a phone call um to say it wasn't picked and as i said it was yeah it was one of the i couldn't believe it actually i was one of the toughest phone calls i ever had and um yeah i said that that i wasn't selected and um that was that was literally the long and short of it really that was it was a very short phone call”
“For me to be at my best i need to know right i like yeah next year all right you need to be good into zero like i need to know that in january so i know right this is when i'm this way i'm getting on my bike every day you know to be good in the gyro”
HEAR IT ON THE PODCAST
Episodes where Eddie Dunbar covers periodisation and related ground.
FREQUENTLY ASKED
What does Eddie Dunbar say about periodisation?
Eddie Dunbar, irish pro cyclist, jayco-alula, has appeared on the Roadman Cycling Podcast. Here's where Dunbar lands on periodisation. The positions below are drawn from those conversations, quoted directly.
What is Dunbar's main point on periodisation?
Climbing form is built on consistent base years, not single training blocks — the riders who hold WorldTour climbing legs are the ones who never lost their base.
Which Roadman Cycling Podcast episodes cover Eddie Dunbar on periodisation?
Dunbar discusses periodisation in this episode: "Lessons Learned At Ineos Grenadiers But Time For A New Chapter with Eddie Dunbar".