Darren Rafferty has finished 6th in the U23 TT at the European Road Championships in Portugal, opening Ireland's campaign with a great result.
The 19-year-old, a first-year U23 rider, was 4th in the junior TT at these championships last year and his ride today was confirmation, if it was needed, that he is already among the best in the U23 ranks.
Kevin McCambridge of Trinity Racing was also riding the TT today for Ireland and the Rás Tailteann stage winner placed 28th at 2:29.
In the sweltering heat of Sangalhos, Rafferty went around the 22km course in a time of 28:36, for an average speed of 46.154km per hour on what was an undulating course.
The gold medal was won by Belgian rider Alec Segaert in 27:25. The Belgian champion was a massive 50 seconds up on silver medal man, Fran Miholjević of Croatia, with Eddy le Huitouze of France claiming bronze at 52 seconds.
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Rafferty, from between Coalisland and Dungannon in Co Tyrone, is riding this year with Hagens Berman Axeon. He has already won Strade Bianche di Romagna (1.2U) as well as enjoying a very strong Baby Giro in support of team mate and overall winner Leo Hayter.
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Rafferty said he felt his TT today had gone "pretty well", though added he had finished just a quarter of a second off the top five, which he was slightly frustrated by.
"But I was really happy with how it went; another decent performance. I can't really complain… The heat, it was really hot. It was quite hard to breathe and find the rhythm.
"With the course, it was kinda always up and down. You had to push on quite hard on the climbs and then get a small recovery on the descents. But overall it was a pretty good course and I'm pretty satisfied with how the TT went and I'm looking forward to the road race on Sunday."
Ireland's juniors were also in action today on the first day of the combined junior and U23 road Europeans, with Conal Scully (Carlow RCC) and Liam O'Brien (Fermoy CC) flying the flag.
Scully, who won the junior TT at the recent National Road Championships, placed 24th some 2:27 down on new junior European champion Mathieu Kockelmann of Luxembourg. O'Brien was 37th at 3:54.
There were no Irish riders in either the women's junior or U23 TTs today, though Ireland will have representation in the male and female junior and U23 road races this weekend.
