Darren Rafferty is set for his second full season in the international peloton with Axel Merckx's Hagens Berman Axeon. The 19-year-old Irishman is currently in Croatia ahead of his first races of the campaign in coming days.
Rafferty - who came up through the Island Wheeler club in Co Tyrone - starts his season this Sunday in the 156km one-day race Poreč Trophy (1.2), which he also rode last year. He then stays on in Croatia for the four-stage Istrian Spring Trophy (2.2), which starts tomorrow week, before some major fixtures in Belgium and the Netherlands.
Having already taken victory in a major international one-day race last year - Strade Bianche di Romagna (1.2U) in Italy - he will ride U23 Gent Wevelgem in Belgium on March 26th. It is a race that can really suit him given his power on the flat and his ability to cope very well with repeated climbs on the hardest days, just like his big win in Italy last May.
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After U23 Gent Wevelgem he will line out in Volta Limburg Classic (1.1) in the Netherlands on April 1st. In that race he will face the likes of Jumbo-Visma, Alpecin-Deceuninck, Intermarché-Circus-Wanty and Team DSM along with a whole host of ProContinental teams, including Lotto Dstny.
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The event, which is just under 200km, takes in a series of small climbs, coming one after the other in sections through the course, and always splits to pieces.
But before those bigger races in Belgium and the Netherlands in the weeks ahead, the upcoming races in Croatia will also be challenging as the fields include many of the best development teams, and elite outfits, in Europe.
Sunday's Poreč Trophy is likely to end in a bunch sprint and is an ideal first outing of the season, though inclement weather could mean it splits more significantly. The Istrian Spring Trophy next week starts with a 1.5km prologue in Vrsar and while Rafferty is very strong against the clock, the distance is shorter than he would like.
Once the prologue is out of the way, there are some climbs the following three days which should split the race on at least one of those stages. That can suit Rafferty, especially if he rides well in the prologue and is still in the running in the general classification.
We'll have an interview with Rafferty to share with you later.
