Darren Rafferty (Hagens Berman Axeon) has ended the Baby Giro on the final podium; the Irish teenager coming through the tricky weekend of racing to hold his 2nd place overall. While the 19-year-old has already shone on the U23 international scene, his result at the end of this week of racing ushers him into the top tier of emerging riders globally.
Rafferty laid the foundations, and more, of his general classification result with his 3rd place on stage 4 to the summit of the Passo dello Stelvio. That saw him gain significant time on most of his rivals and while the stage winner that day - Johannes Staune-Mittet (Jumbo-Visma Development Team) - looked strongest in the race, Rafferty was next best.
The Co Tyrone rider confirmed on the Stelvio - the first big mountain he had ever raced up while riding for his own result - he has the climbing legs to match his already proven TT abilities. That was a very significant step in his career and one that will peak the interests of several World Tour teams.
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Rafferty had placed 12th in the opening stage TT - though it was only a race of seconds at the top - and then really signalled his intent the the next day by going on the attack. He came very close to taking the race lead, though was ultimately caught by the peloton in the final kilometre.
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However, the big show started on the fourth stage to the top of the Stelvio and that's where the Irishman really stepped up. He rode away from the rest of the field as the road went over 2,000m, with only Norwegian Staune-Mittet and Frenchman Alexy Faure Prost (Circus-ReUz-Technord) for company.
While Staune-Mittet and Faure Prost rode away from Rafferty in the final kilometre, he still took 3trd place on the day. The stage result put the Irishman in 2nd place overall, just 18 seconds behind Staune-Mittet, the new race leader.
And that remained the order of the 1-2 on GC until the race concluded in Trieste today. Though yesterday's stage was a bruising affair - three cat 1 climbs in the finale including a summit finish - Rafferty was in the select group as it was whittled down to four.
And though Staune-Mittet rode away from the group, to gain more time, Rafferty consolidated his position in 2nd overall, putting time into the riders who were closest to him. The final stage today ended with two breakaway men fighting for the victory just 10 seconds ahead of the peloton.
Denmark's Anders Foldager (Biesse-Carrera) took the win from the aggressive Italian Luca Cretti (Team Colpack Ballan). Denmark's Henrik Pedersen (Team ColoQuick) won the sprint for 3rd place from the peloton. And while the bunch split a little at the finish, Staune-Mittet and Rafferty came over the line - 46th and 47th - at the very back of the 45-rider group 10 seconds down on the breakaway men.
There were no changes in the GC; Staune-Mittet winning overall by 47 seconds from Rafferty with German Hannes Wilksch (Tudor Pro Cycling Team U23) 3rd overall at 2:02. The Irish rider has emerged from this Baby Giro - one of the hardest and most prestigious U23 races in the world - with his reputation hugely enhanced and having proven his level is continuing to get higher. It is now only a matter of time - maybe a very short period - before we see him with a World Tour team.
