Vuelta a España stage winner Eddie Dunbar has confirmed an earlier than expected return to competition following the collarbone fracture he suffered on the 12 September.

The Corkman fell on stage 20 of the Vuelta, 24 hours after taking a superb mountain stage win atop the Peñas Blancas climb. He hit a pothole close to the finish and suffered the injury to his collarbone, exiting the race as a result.

That raised fears that his season would be over but he confirmed to RTÉ this week that he will be back in action again soon, less than a month after that crash.

He will line out next Thursday in the Italian semi-classic Gran Piemonte, and then ride the Il Lombardia classic two days later.

"Since the crash, everything's been quite good actually," he said. "I flew back to Dublin and went to Santry Sports Clinic. There’s a great shoulder doctor there, Doctor Hannan Mullet. I’ve been to him a few times, and he seen me Monday after the crash, so it was very quick turnaround. He got me fixed up."

The news is a big boost to Dunbar, who waited two years to clock up his most recent win. He endured long periods of time off the bike due to injury and illness, and even considered retiring earlier this year following another disappointment.

In March he fell during Paris-Nice in March and left the race with a fractured rib. The following day he was hit side-on by a motorcyclist while riding on a city bike in Monaco, sustaining a fracture to his ankle.

He wore a boot for almost two full months and was off the bike for three.

That was almost the last straw, but he persevered and raced to a superb Vuelta stage win as a result. It was his first win in two years.

And while his crash the following day was a setback, his success gave him the boost he needed to deal with that frustration, as did his rapid recovery.

Fractures normally take six months to heal but he was pictured last week training with multiple Tour de France champion Tadej Pogačar, a close friend. The Slovenian is also recovering from injury, having sustained a concussion, a fractured vertebra and a fractured collarbone on stage 8 of the Vuelta.

Dunbar sounds upbeat and is clearly encouraged by his own rapid recovery. It means he hasn’t lost as much of his fitness as might otherwise have been the case.

"I had the week off anyway [after the crash] just to recover from the Vuelta," he said. "So, the following Monday then I was back on the indoor trainer and getting back into training. I just did a few days in the turbo [indoor trainer], then came back to Monaco and started outside on the bike.

"It’s gone pretty well actually. I’ve more or less full movement back in the shoulder, which is a good sign.

"Mickey Laverty is one of the Irish osteos [osteopaths]. He works for Uno-X and was actually down this way as well for a week, so I was able to see him for treatment. That really helped as well with the recovery."

The Gran Piemonte event will be his first race back. He’s looking forward to resuming competition again.

"It should be good to see how I am, especially after the Vuelta and the last few weeks training," he told RTÉ. "And all going well there I should hopefully line up at Lombardia as well, where we have a strong team."

His Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling team will be led there by the British rider Tom Pidcock, who was seventh in the recent world championships and second in the Giro dell’Emilia on Saturday.

"Obviously Tom was flying last week in the worlds, so we’ll go there motivated to do a good ride for him and hopefully come out with a result," Dunbar said.

"It’ll be nice just to race before the season’s out too, although it’s only a couple of races. It would have been probably a little bit early to end the season there in the Vuelta. But as I said, everything’s gone smooth enough since the crash and that win in the Vuelta.

"So let’s hope next week goes well and get another few races in."

What’s most important is that he is healthy again and has taken a breakthrough result for his team. His Vuelta success was the first grand tour stage victory ever for Pinarello Q36.5 Procycling.

It was also of major importance for his own career, proving that two years of hardship haven’t blunted his talent.

"It was nice to get that win, especially after an up and down year," he said. "It’s always nice just to get the hands in the air again."