Darren Rafferty (Hagens Berman Axeon) has put in a great ride on the opening day of action at the Baby Giro, now officially known as Giro Next Gen. The Irishman has confirmed he is in great condition going into the eight-stage race.
This is the Irishman's second appearance in the event, after making his debut last season in what was his first year at U23 level. On that occasion he was on team duties after his British team mate Leo Hayter took the leader's jersey on stage 2 and held it all the way.
However, this time around Rafferty will hopefully get more freedom to target his own results and certainly set out his stall today, when he was by far the best of his team in the opening 9.4km TT in Agliè.
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Wearing his Irish U23 champion's TT kit., Rafferty rode to 12th place, of 175 starters; an excellent result. He was 25 seconds down on Alec Segaert (Lotto Dstny), who won the European TT title last year and was runner-up at the Worlds.
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Segaert was best by a big margin today, winning by 12 seconds from Loe van Belle (Jumbo-Visma Development Team). Aivaras Mikutis (Tudor Pro Cycling Team U23) and Jonathan Vervenne (Soudal-Quick-Step Devo Team) were 3rd and 4th, both at 13 seconds.
So far this year, Rafferty has had to contend with some injury troubles but has still placed 5th in both Giro del Belvedere (1.2U) and the U23 Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Last week he was 7th in Trofeo Alcide DeGasperi (1.2) and has also recently taken in an altitude camp ahead of the Baby Giro.
His performance today suggests his recent preparations have set him up very well for this race. He may get a chance as soon as tomorrow, on a rolly 151km stage 2 from San Francesco al Campo to Cherasco, to go for victory and improve his general classification position.
