Darren Rafferty has said while riding Critérium du Dauphiné against Tour de France contenders has been "an eye-opener" he was happy with how he had ridden, especially during yesterday's 135km breakaway on the hardest stage of the race.
The 20-year-old neo with EF Education-EasyPost got into the escape group, in a blistering opening hour of racing, and was not caught by the yellow jersey select group until 5km from the finish atop the HC Samoëns 1600 ascent.
He said his stage out front, in what is one of the most prestigious stage races in the world with Tour de France contenders in the field, was another boost for his confidence and a sign of improvement in the right direction.
"Looking back now, maybe it was fun," he laughed. "But it was just hard all day; a lot of elevation and on the pedals just to try and stay ahead of that yellow jersey group. But in the end, the final climb was just a bit too steep and too long.
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"We set out with a plan of trying to get me or Sean in the break," Rafferty said in reference to his team mate, and newly minted American road race champion, Sean Quinn.
"And Sean was doing a great job at the start, he was in most of the main breakaways and I was following the counter moves behind. And then about 25 or 30 minutes into the road when the (road) start to go up, the legs were pretty good.
"So I was able to get ahead and then a really strong group of climbers and experienced riders got ahead, I think there was nine or 10 of us. We worked pretty well together and got the gap up.
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"The cohesion left the group with a few k to go on the penultimate climb and then I think everyone was pretty tired in the valley before the final climb. I just tried to settle into my own pace on the final climb and just tried to make it to the top as quick as I could.
"I was pretty empty. But it's definitely another confidence boost to be able to make it in (to the breakaway) after a really hard first hour of racing. Although I didn't have the legs to follow at the end, it's still… a work in progress, some improvement in the right direction, I'm quite happy."
Speaking more generally, Rafferty said he was very happy with his first season at World Tour level so far having stepped up to EF Education-EasyPost from top U23 international development team Hagens Berman Axeon.
"It's been a big step up this year, it's mostly been a big learning curve. I'm enjoying it a lot and learning a lot from my team mates and the quality of every race is much higher than anything I've ever been used to.
"It's tough but it's good and I think I'm headed in the right direction. Everybody always wants to be better than they're at and it's the same for me," he said, adding he was aiming for the top of the sport.
"It's not been the dream first season but I think it's still pretty good and I'm satisfied with how it's gone so far. So there's still room for improvement and I'll keep working and hopefully keep improving year on year."
He said his main takeaway from the Dauphiné was just how the level was, explaining on the final climb on Friday while he was "doing good numbers" and though he felt OK "already 4 or 5k into the climb I was at the back and suffering".
"It's an eye-opener," he added. "It's nice to be at a race like this, where you have Tour de France contenders, and then you can see how far you still have to go."
