Never a youth phenom winning races all around him, Darren Rafferty instead made incremental progress through the youth ranks, with Island Wheelers, and into his junior years before a golden few months in France in 2021.
Riding for French team Villeneuve Cycliste, he upped his game and dominated most of the races he rode, taking win after win, despite facing some very stiff opposition in what was his second season as a junior.
He confirmed his status as one of the very best on the French scene with a big win at Grand Prix de Plouay in late August that year. He had already taken two stage victories and 2nd overall at Tour Junior Causses-Aigoual-Cévennes and also won the final yellow jersey in three stage races, including Tour de la Vallée de la Trambouze in July.
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Also in July that year, he won the four-stage Ronde sud Bourgogne, after claiming the stage 3 TT and the concluding stage 4 road race. And in June he won the three-stage Tour du Carmausin-Ségala, during which his team won the TTT.
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There followed 4th in the junior TT at the European Road Championships, 11th at the Worlds in the TT and 2nd in the Chrono des Nations MJ (1.1).
Then came two years at Hagens Berman Axeon, which included further success, including placing 2nd overall at Giro Next Gen and winning the overall at Giro della Valle d'Aosta (2.2U) and placing 5th in the U23 TT at the Worlds, all in 2023.
Now in his second season at EF Education EasyPost, Rafferty rode La Vuelta last year and the Giro d'Italia this season. He also won the road race at the National Road Championships last season and was 6th in the U23 TT at the Worlds.
EF Education-EasyPost has produced this film about Rafferty, speaking to the man himself, his family, his girlfriend Katie, and following him on the day of the National TT Championships in Co Westmeath in late June. It's an interesting insight into the life of one of our young top pro riders.
