Adam Rafferty attacks for racer's stage win at Giro Next Gen | Video

Ireland's Adam Rafferty has taken an incredible stage win at Giro Next Gen, just 24 hours after compatriot Seth Dunwoody also took a win on the Italian race

Ireland's Adam Rafferty has taken an incredible stage win at Giro Next Gen, just 24 hours after compatriot Seth Dunwoody (Bahrain Victorious Development) also took a win on the Italian race.

The Hagens Berman Jayco rider, who is making his debut on this race - the U23 version of Giro d'Italia - raced clear in a breakaway today that contained some of the strongest general classification riders on the 153km stage from Fiorenzuola d'Arda to Gavi.

Nearing the finish, Co Tyrone's Rafferty - whose brother, Darren, was 2nd overall on the race two years ago - attacked the breakaway group and went solo to the line. His performance today, with time gained on the main field and on the other escapees, saw him shooting up the general classification to 10th overall.

Advertisement

Taking his first international UCI-ranked win today, Rafferty's breakaway group had an advantage of two minutes over the chasing pack with 5km to go. And it was at that point the Irish rider made his move.

Just after the 5km to go marker he jumped hard and eked out a small gap, though some of the breakaway men initially attacked after him. However, when the riders behind stalled a little, Rafferty's gap became more established and he had a chance of taking the victory.

The reigning U23 TT national champion, who placed 6th on the opening stage TT at Giro Next Gen in Rho last Sunday, settled into TT mode all the way to the line. And though his gap was modest, ensuring he could never really relax, he had the legs to get the job done.

He flew up the finishing straight just in front of the breakaway and checking around to ensure he had a winning gap before unleashing his celebration, the second for the Irish on the road in 24 hours.

Related News

Rafferty finished some eight seconds ahead of most of the others from the 10-man breakaway, with Filippo Turconi (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) end and general classification man Jakob Omrzel (Bahrain Victorious Development) rounding out the podium.

Australian rider Luke Tuckwell (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe Rookies), who won Dornan Rás Mumhan in Co Kerry last year, was also in the breakaway today, finishing 9th at 13 seconds. And as the breakaway finished 2:03 up on the remains of the peloton, Tuckwell has taken the race lead from Jarno Widar (Lotto Development Team).

More to come.

Related News