McCarthy, of Cahersiveen stock, knows his cycling, as well he might. Just up the hill on the outskirts of the town you can still find the run-down house where Mick Murphy used to live, the original Iron Man of Irish sport, the 1958 Rás Tailteann champion, won on blood and sweat and tears in every sense.
After 5km of climbing in total, finishing at 2,307 metres above sea level, Dunbar dropped from fourth to fifth overall, race leader Geraint Thomas, who turned 37 on Thursday, still looking primed for the second Grand Tour win of his life. Dunbar’s time is only beginning. Since joining Team Jayco-AlUla for this season, the Australian outfit offering him a three-year contract and the chance to chase Grand Tour podium positions, his career has only now shifted in the direction that Baku that day promised.
During that conversation, Dunbar also spoke of his head-planting crash on to the road, inside the final 1km of day one of the Baby Giro, in June 2017, resulting in a severe concussion which left him almost five complete months off the bike. There had been other hard moments to overcome, chief among them the loss of his father, Eamonn, who died of a progressive kidney disease when Dunbar was only 13.