Adam Rafferty shook off his commitments to school last summer and then threw himself into the life of a full-time bike rider over the winter. Though it's early days yet in the new season for the Hagens Berman Jayco man, the signs coming out of Greece over the last couple of days are excellent.
The Co Tyrone 19-year-old told stickybottle - after moving up to 3rd overall following today's stage - that the difference between his condition at present compared to 12 months ago was like night and day.
This was due to his training volume have increased considerably over the winter, bringing him into line with those who he was competing against and no longer being at a disadvantage.
"It's not comparable, I feel so much better really," he said of his current form at Tour of Rhodes (2.2) compared to last season. "Last year I was training like a junior. I would still say I'm a time trial specialist but they were really the only thing I could compete in just because I was training so little."
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Rafferty continued: "Now I'm feeling like a much more complete rider, with having had a normal training regime for an under 23. It's been really motivating to see that big improvement. And I think I also have a lot of faith from my team.
"I've just generally done more. Last year I averaged around 12 hours on the bike (per week) all year. And now it's high teens into 20 (hours), maybe it's 18 or so; it's a pretty significant increase.
"But it's not as if I'm doing insane hours compared to everybody else. What I'm actually doing is pretty standard, I was just at a disadvantage last year."
Obviously Rafferty's next assignment is tomorrow's stage in Greece, followed by the concluding day of the race on Sunday, though he is already thinking of the challenges ahead. He now sits in 3rd place, just seven seconds off the yellow jersey, and also has his team riding for him.
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After Greece he will ride the five-stage Circuit des Ardennes International (2.2) from April as well as U23 Liège-Bastogne-Liège on April 19th. There follows two Italian one-day races on April 21st and 22nd; Giro del Belvedere and GP Palio del Recioto.
"It's nice, I had a good choice this year for my calendar," he said, adding his 10th place in the U23 TT at the Worlds in Zurich had helped his motivation and confidence over the winter and into these first races of 2025.
"Last year, when you put it into perspective, I had proper training for time trialing, and I was good at it. But then obviously I didn't have proper training for road racing and I wasn't good at it. But now I have the training for both."
He said the result of the Worlds had always been in the back of his mind "and I kind of go back to it to stay confident in myself".
"It's definitely a baseline I can use," he said of the Worlds. "With time trialing, there's no lie in it, you can't fluke your way into a good result."
Now based in Girona, and completely absorbed in the pro cycling lifestyle, Rafferty said he felt the heat in Greece today and he believed the fight for the overall may come down to bonus seconds.
They were fought for fiercely today, with the section from 110km-100km to go, to reach the second bonus sprint, splitting the race, with Rafferty in the 25-rider front group.
"It was quite hectic until the first intermediate and then Astana kind of took up control, and it was relatively controlled," he said. "And then we hit about 100k and all hell let loose, it was really just a fight for staying up there."
"You just can never lose any alertness, in that way it's tiring it's stressful, you're constantly thinking about that. But we're over here would a pretty good team."
