Adam Rafferty was picked onto his first Irish team - for Rás Mumhan - two weeks ago and has taken another significant step in his development today as a bike rider, winning at the Lakeland Grand Prix after a 100km solo breakaway.
The 17-year-old from Co Tyrone put in a dig going into a corner just 2km into the 102km race and he was never seen again. On a wet and cold day for racing, he built a big lead and took victory by minutes, though admitting this evening his "body is a wee bit sore".
In an interview with stickybottle he explained how a new approach, under a new coach whose name is now often cropping up in race winner interviews, has made him a much better rider this year.
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While that change in training during the winter has made him a heavier rider, it is only served to make him more powerful. The added weight has given him the ability to have a bigger impact in races, rather than slowing him down as we so often assume of gaining weight in cycling.
Rafferty started out in the sport with Island Wheelers - which will be promoting this year's National Road Championships - but has since moved on to compete for the French junior squad, Team 31 Jolly Cycles U19. And though he must combine his racing with his schooling, that won't stop him going back and forward to France next month, before spending the remainder of the season there once his exams are done.
But first, how did his 100km solo breakaway go today in the A3-Junior race promoted by Lakeland Cycling Club in Fermanagh? And what was he thinking as he persisted with his effort?
"I had the heart rate at 190"
"I was kind of shocked with it, to be honest, because it was a 102 km race," he said of attacking so early and going all the way. "About two kilometre in I attacked out of a corner and from there I just soloed to the line basically. It was a lonely race, to be fair, but I was happy with that."
Rafferty said he had knowledge of the course and knew there was a climb in Belleek, which was about halfway around the 51km circuit, of which the A2-Junior race completed two laps. On the first lap, he said he wanted to have a gap of at least 30 seconds on the nearest chasers when he hit the climb, as he felt he could gain more once the road kicked up.
"In my head I just wanted that gap of at least 30 seconds and I actually got there with 36 seconds," he explained. "There was a chasing group and then on that nice big long hill I just had the hammer down the whole time; I had the heart rate at 190 and just went absolutely flat out."
It soon became clear Rafferty's reading of the race - not to mention the strength of his effort - was on the money as he extended his gap on the climb. That advantage continued to build for the remainder of the first lap, at the end of which he got a time check of 1:30 on the nearest riders to him.
He then faced a rolly road, with a tailwind, for about 25km before hitting the climb again. When the reach that climb, he got another time gap, showing he now had 4:15 on those chasing him.
"I was a wee bit shocked at that gap," he said. "Obviously I had been flat out before that but then I gave myself a bit of a break. I enjoyed the descent. It was a very gradual downhill, with a headwind, so it was still hard. I need to keep it going because you can always get a puncture or anything could happen."
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Asked if he had second thoughts about pressing on on his own, especially in the early stages of his lone breakaway, he admitted some doubts crossed his mind, though he quickly put them to one side.
"At the start of the race, when the gap was just about 30 seconds and I could see the group behind me, I was saying to myself 'am I just wrecking myself for now reason?' But I thought that last year I was maybe not taking enough risks in races. And I just thought 'you know what, I'm just going to go for it'. I won this race last year too and I just really wanted to get it again."
French races on agenda for remainder of season
Rafferty, now a second-year senior, followed his brother Darren's footsteps last season and went to race in France with Team 31 Jolly Cycles U19. He took a win - on stage 2 of the Tour Junior Causses-Aigoual-Cévenne - among a string of promising results before concluded the campaign with 6th at the Chrono des Nations, a UCI-ranked TT.
Describing that TT as "amazing", he said he was really please to take part in a major international TT and believed the result he secured was perhaps the best of his 2022 campaign.
He opened this season with a couple of races in France and signalled he was in good form with 4th in the Rás Mhaigheo TT stage against A1 opposition. Since then he has ridden Rás Mumhan on the Irish junior team, the first time he has been selected onto the national team.
And while he abandoned on the last day, when a crash saw him injury his knee - cut open by a chainring - he knew his power before the Easter weekend was very good and he felt strong during that race. He is a first-year A1 student in St Patrick's Academy in Dungannon at present - meaning he has one year of school remaining after this year. However, he will mix exams in May with a number of racing trips to France.
Once the exams are done, Rafferty plans to go France for the remainder of the season, with a mix of national and UCI-ranked races. He will come home for the National Road Championships, which are being organised by his home club, Island Wheelers, and will be run on home roads, out of Dungannon. However, he looks unlikely to ride the Junior Tour of Ireland as it clashes with some UCI-ranked racing in France.
He has an eye firmly on selection for the road Worlds, in Glasgow in August, and the Europeans, in the Netherlands in September and was hopeful of being picked for both the road race and TT; the latter an event he is very strong in.
"I didn't get to the Europeans last year and I was a wee bit disappointed," he said. "But I think this year I'm a more complete rider."
Rafferty is now working with coach Stephen Gallagher - the former Rás Tailteann winner who now runs Dig Deep Coaching - and believes he has progressed significantly since last season. He believes do work in the gym for the first time over the winter has made him a much better rider.
Gallagher has already been working for some time with Rafferty's brother, Darren. The older brother is now in his second year with Hagens Berman Axeon and placed 5th in U23 Liège-Bastogne-Liège last weekend and achieving very strong results last year, including winner Strade Bianche di Romagna (1.2U) and placing 6th in the U23 TT at the Europeans.
Gallagher is also working this year as lead coach with the Canyon-SRAM Racing World Tour team, having signed a contract with that squad last December, which runs until 2025. Adam Rafferty says having only begun working under Gallagher late last year, he was really happy with the relationship so far.
"This is the first year after doing gym over the winter and also the first year with Stephen coaching me; he knows what he's at. After doing the gym, I'm heavier this year. I'm a big rider and more powerful - I have a bit of a sprint this year and when I attack, I can make a separation."
