Darren Rafferty sealed the biggest win of his career on Sunday, taking the general classification in the Giro Ciclistico della Valle d’Aosta – Mont Blanc stage race in Italy.
The Hagens Berman Axeon rider took the race lead with a strong ride on Saturday’s mountain stage and then defended it on Sunday’s uphill concluder, finishing seventh at the summit at Breuil-Cervinia. He was 3′06 behind the solo stage winner Joshua Golliker (Equipe Continentale Groupama-FDJ) and, crucially, finished just 22″ behind his two main rivals, Isaac Del Toro (A.R Monex Pro Cycling Team) and Alexy Faure Prost (Circus-ReUz-Technord).
That saw Rafferty end the five-day race 2′22 ahead of Faure Prost and 2′57 ahead of Del Toro. He had told The Irish Times at the national championships that he was determined to land a win this season and has now done that, taking one of the most important stage races for under-23 riders.
“I can’t really believe it. I am super proud of all the help of my team. To get my first win of the year is really, really nice. And to do it in such a nice race is incredible. I just can’t thank the team enough. An unbelievable week and to top it off with the yellow jersey at the end, I am very happy.”
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He thanked his team for their help during the race. “What can you say. I think we showed that we were the strongest team. We still had five riders in the race and they all performed exceptionally today. They did everything they could to help me. I am super grateful, I couldn’t have won it without them, so thanks to them.”
He joins Fabio Aru, Thibaut Pinot and others as winners of the event.
Both went on to big professional careers. Rafferty is expected to turn professional next year, with several teams approaching him after he was a super second overall in the Under-23 Giro d’Italia in June. He won the national Under-23 time trial championships the same month.
The 20-year-old Dungannon competitor also won the Strade Bianche di Romagna one-day race last season, another prestigious contest.
Rafferty’s latest success also sees him take seconds in the points classification and third in the King of the Mountains competition. He will now target the world championships in the coming weeks.
“I think the big goal from now is worlds. There will be a big focus on the time trial with Ireland. I would love to get a medal there, but we will have to wait and see. So full focus on preparation for the next couple of weeks and then hopefully I’ll get a nice result in Glasgow. That is the plan.”
Meanwhile there was Irish success on the final stage of the Eurocycles Eurobaby Junior Tour of Ireland on Sunday when Oisin Ferrity (Ireland) won a big bunch sprint into Barefield. He outsprinted Hudson Lubbers (Ignite Canada), Niall Colquitt (Isle of Man), Ed Uptegrove (Tempo) and the rest of the field, repeating his win ahead of Lubbers on stage two.
Ferrity’s two stage wins saw him take the points classification. There was however disappointment for his team-mate Liam O’Brien, who had led the race since the opening stage last Tuesday. He started the day six seconds behind Lubbers in the general classification but the Canadian rider’s time bonus for finishing second saw him draw level on overall time.
He was awarded the overall victory based on better accumulated stage placings, as per race rules. Kaden Colling (Ignite Canada) and Ben Stokes (Hot Tubes) were third and fourth overall. Ferrity was next best of the Irish riders in ninth overall.
Eurocycles Eurobaby Junior Tour of Ireland
Stage 6, Ennis circuit race: 1 Oisin Ferrity (Ireland) 79.1kms in 1 hour 48′17, 2 H Lubbers (Ignite Canada), 3 N Colquitt (Isle of Man), 4 E Uptegrove (Tempo), 5 C Abraham (Lee Valley Youth 1), 6 R Oberding (EF Education Onto), 7 I Sorby (Isle of Man), 8 A Foster (Innovation Racing), 9 B Stokes (Hot Tubes), 10 E Storti (Lee Valley Youth 1) all same time
Team: 1 Isle of Man 5 horus 24′51, 2 Ignite Canada, 3 Lee Valley Youth 1, 4 Innovation Racing, 5 Prologue Racing Team
Final general classification: 1 Hudson Lubbers (Ignite Canada) 9 hours 29′55, 2 L O’Brien (Ireland) same time, 3 K Colling (Ignite Canada) at 16″, 4 B Stokes (Hot Tubes) at 22″, 5 M White (Boulder Junior Cycling), 6 R Schutte (Tempo), 7 S Renaud (Hot Tubes), 8 A Foster (Innovation Racing) all same time, 9 O Ferrity (Ireland) at 27″, 10 N Colquitt (Isle of Man) at 37″
Points: 1 Oisin Ferrity (Ireland) 55, 2 H Lubbers (Ignite Canada) 54, 3 E Uptegrove (Tempo) 43, 4 N Colquitt (Isle of Man) 39, 5 K Colling (Ignite Canada) 33
Mountains: 1 Charles Bergerson (Ignite Canada) 41, 2 C Neil (Cycling Ulster) 19, 3 E Uptegrove (Tempo) 9, 4 T Killeen (Leinster A) 9, 5 K Colling (Ignite Canada) 8
Young rider: 1 Joel Hurt (Prologue Racing Team) 9 hours 30′46″, 2 I Sorby (Isle of Man), 3 C Tutty (Ireland), 4 P Evans (Team Swift), 5 J Rohde (Velosport) all same time
Team: 1 Hot Tubes 28 hours 31′20, 2 Ireland at 21″, 3 Isle of Man at 57″, 4 Prologue Racing Team at 1′19, 5 EF Education Onto at 1′23
