An outstanding rider from the time he was in the youth ranks, Darren Rafferty yesterday won one of the hardest and most prestigious U23 stage races in the world and today it has been confirmed he will be a World Tour rider next season.
However, news that he has signed a two-year World Tour deal seemed inevitable, long before he won Giro Ciclistico della Valle d'Aosta-Mont Blanc (2.2U) in Italy just 24 hours ago. His victory in Strade Bianche di Romagna (1.2U) last year had already announced a special talent that has only been further confirmed over the past year.
Next season he will be a team mate of Ben Healy's at EF Education-EasyPost, with that team announcing today it had signed the Co Tyrone rider on a two-year contract. Rafferty was being pursued by several teams this year and last season, including being invited to Soudal-QuickStep's winter training camp.
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However, it is US-registered EF Education-EasyPost that has won the race to sign the rider. That will be welcomed by Irish cycling fans who have seen the freedom granted by the team to Ben Healy over the last two years.
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Rafferty, who has proven a world class talent at U23 level over the last two seasons with Hagens Berman Axeon, recently told stickybottle about the difference between his first full season in Europe last year and his improved abilities this year. He had noticed the biggest change when it came to absorbing training and racing load.
He was also no longer racing in a bid to get in a breakaway, but rather had shifted his attentions to riding for a result with the best riders – who normally come good in the finale of races rather than taking the early breakaway route.
Rafferty, from Co Tyrone, completed a three-week training camp at altitude in Sierra Nevada from the start of May this year. Once that concluded he rode two races in Italy at the start of last month. He placed 7th in Trofeo Alcide DeGasperi (1.2) after making the nine-man front group on a very attritional course. He then went on to the Next Gen Giro; taking 3rd on the Stelvio summit finish and 2nd overall.
As an U23 rider last year, and so far this season, he has taken a series of very strong results. As well as his win in Strade Bianche di Romagna (1.2U) in April of last year he also won the U23 TT title at the National Road Championships last year and went on to place 6th in the U23 TT at the Europeans, 8th in the Commonwealth Games TT, riding for Northern Ireland, and 6th in the 2022 season-ending Chrono des Nations U23 TT (1.2U).
This year he has placed 5th in Giro del Belvedere (1.2U), 5th in U23 Liège-Bastogne-Liège, 7th in Trofeo Alcide DeGasperi (1.2), 2nd overall in Giro Next Gen - with 3rd and 7th in key stages along the way. That was following by retaining his Irish U23 TT title and then overall victory in Giro Ciclistico della Valle d'Aosta-Mont Blanc (2.2U), after placing 4th, 5th, 2nd and 7th on four of the five stages. He was also 2nd in the points classification and 3rd in the mountains competition.
