Liam O’Brien of Lidl Trek, centre, on the front of the bunch, where he rode for much of the day, helping his team win the opening stage via Jonathan Milan (Photo: Tony Esnault)

Eddie Dunbar (Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling) dodged a bullet on the opening stage of AlUla Tour (2.Pro) on Tuesday after the field split in the crosswinds and a front group went clear, without the Irishman in it.

The damage was largely, though not completely, contained by the finish and one of the upsides for Dunbar today was Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates XRG) being sanctioned with a 20-second penalty. That was significant as the young Swiss rider is among those riders, alongside Dunbar, expected to battle it out for overall victory.

There are two uphill stage finishes to come and that 20-second time loss may yet prove insignificant for Christen, depending on how the race pans out. However, Dunbar this week has what will probably prove one of his best chances of the year to win a stage race, meaning Christen taking such a blow may well prove advantageous to the Irishman.

On an historic day for Irish cycling, with no fewer than five riders in the field in Saudi Arabia, Liam O’Brien, a 20-year-old from Cork, put in a big shift on the front. The Lidl Trek man was one of the riders who towed the peloton for much of the day, keeping a breakaway under control, before his team mate Jonathan Milan made the 18-strong front group and won the stage in a sprint.

Of those 18 riders, 15 just about held off the chasing bunch, with most of them finishing 11 seconds up on the remains of the peloton. The Irish trio of Dunbar, Dillon Corkery (Picnic PostNL) and Jamie Meehan (Cofidis) all finished in that group at 11 seconds, in 33rd, 39th and 63rd respectively.

Seth Dunwoody is riding his first stage race for World Tour team Bahrain Victorious, after being called up from its U23 development squad for the week. He finished in 87th today at 5:12 after riding for the team. O’Brien was in 103rd at 10:26 after his big day out.

As well as the gap to the leaders having been reduced to 11 seconds on the line, down from 40 seconds in the final, none of the fancied general classification men was in the front group. Indeed, this is a field notably light on big GC names.

Dunbar, Christen, Mauri Vansevenant (Soudal Quick-Stepa) and the Jayco AlUla duo of Alan Hatherly and Paul Double are perhaps the clearest contenders for the overall title this week, though some of the younger riders could have a breakthrough.

The sprinters – or perhaps breakaway men – should get another shot on tomorrow’s 152km flat stage before the first uphill finish of the race on Thursday starts to put real shape on the general classification. If Dunbar doesn’t miss out in the crosswinds tomorrow, this could be a really big week for the Irishman.