One of three Rafferty siblings representing themselves, their teams and their country so well, Adam Rafferty didn't try to hide his emotion at winning today's stage 5 at Giro Next Gen. Though he has been Irish TT champion as a junior and U23, and finished in the top 10 in the Worlds last year, this was the 19-year-old's first international win.
And the significance of that big victory was not wasted on him as he welled up just moments after celebrating in near disbelief in Gavi, northern Italy, just 24 hours after Seth Dunwoody (Bahrain Victorious Development) claimed the first Irish win of this year's race.
Among a new golden generation of Irish riders - with unprecedented strength in depth - Rafferty (Hagens Berman Jayco) struggled to explain how he felt as he crossed the line today and soon became emotional as the enormity of it all set in.
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"Honestly, I barely know. Just relief. I think it's the happiest day of my life," he said of his thoughts. "I couldn't be happier for the team, they've had so much faith in me for two years now. And to get my first win and also the 200th win for Axel's (Merckx) and Koos's (Moerenhout) organisation is just… I've never even dreamed of stuff like this, so it was special."
Rafferty's brother is Darren Rafferty, the EF Education-EasyPost World Tour pro who was 2nd overall in this race two years ago. And their kid sister, 17-year-old Aliyah (Tofauti Everyone Active Majoco), is a road and cyclocross international, not to mention the Irish junior 10 mile TT record holder.
However, it was Dunwoody's win yesterday, as much as the history he and his siblings are making, that drove Rafferty on to victory today.
“Seth is one of my best friends. I was gutted because Ben Wiggins, one of my team-mates, was in the breakaway and then I found out he punctured out of it. I was gutted for him," he said of yesterday's stage 4.
"But when I crossed the line I saw Bahrain (Victorious Development) celebrating and I knew it was Seth. I couldn't have been happier, so he really inspired me for today."
Though Dunwoody took his win in a sprint from a breakaway yesterday, Rafferty - who is a climber and TT man rather than a sprinter - decided to go it alone in the final once he had made the break on the day's 154km stage, with 2,200m of climbing.
The major obstacle of the day - the 12.8km Passo del Penice averaging 6.7 per cent gradient - was crested with 69.5km completed and with approximately 85km still to race. Though the breakaway did not go on the climb, the peloton split there.
Rafferty was in the first section going over the top, with attacks being fired off the front at that point, and down the descent. And by the time the descent was over, and the dust settled, Rafferty was among a 10-man breakaway.
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That breakaway group also contained several GC men, taking advantage of the fact race leader Jarno Widar (Lotto Development Team) was isolated. The group had 30 seconds just as the descent ended.
Behind them, the peloton had been reduced to a large select group. Maglia rosa Widar was being attacked by the other GC men who had also missed the boat, with that stop-start racing playing into the hands of the breakaway.
The leaders continued to work well, as three of their number were destined to move up to the top three positions overall. And with 5km to go, as the attacks had started in the breakaway, the group still had two minutes when Rafferty made his solo move.
How it panned out
Once clear, the Irish U23 TT champion put his head down. Going into time trial mode, he powered through the undulating final few kilometres and won solo by eight seconds from the chasers.
"Initially I wanted to go for the breakaway, to get ahead for the climb," explained Rafferty. "But when I saw how hectic it was, I didn't really see the teams letting a move go. So I decided to just be patient and wait.
"Then Red Bull really started to push hard on that 13k climb. I made it over, maybe in a group of 20 and… it was one of the hardest days of my life.
"Coming up to about 5 or 6ks to go I saw the momentum of the group stopping and I knew that was my chance. I had a good performance in the time trial on the first stage (last Sunday, with 6th) so I knew I could do it. Honestly, I think it's the happiest day of my life."
With Rafferty having gained seconds on the other breakaway men, and finished 2:03 up on the remains of the peloton, he has shot up from 20th to 10th overall, some 2:19 off the leader's jersey with three stages remaining.
The new top three overall were all in the breakaway today. Australian Luke Tuckwell (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe Rookies) now leads by 26 seconds from Jakob Omrzel (Bahrain Victorious Development Team), with Filippo Turconi (VF Group - Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) 3rd at 36 seconds. Widar has slipped from the race lead to 4th at 1:23.
Today Ireland's Liam O'Brien (Lidl Trek Future Racing) was 47th, finishing in the remains of the peloton - less than 40 riders - some 2:03 down. Dunwoody, after his winning exploits yesterday, was 138th at 16:32.
