Darren Rafferty, the Irish rider competing with Hagens Berman Axeon, went on the attack on stage 2 at the Baby Giro today. The 19-year-old from Co Tyrone has now moved into the top 10 overall and is 2nd in the king of mountains classification.
He emerged among the three strongest riders at the front of the race, in what was an undulating finale, after attacks and counter attacks. Rafferty went off the front of the peloton in a small group in a bid to catch the stage-long breakaway with just over 50km remaining.
The 152km stage from San Francesco al Campo to Cherasco featured a series of late climbs and it was on that terrain that Rafferty made his move. At that point, the four-rider early breakaway was still clear, though their lead had been brought right down after earlier gaining over five minutes.
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In that original move were: Sil Van Daele (Bingoal WB DT), Colin Savioz (La Conti Groupama-FDJ), Samuele Leone (Work Service-Vitalcare-Dynatek), Edoardo Zamperini (Zalf Euromobil Fior). After the breakaway men had tackled the first climb of the day - the 6.4km La Morra crested with 60km to go - Savioz and Leone were dropped, leaving Zamperini and Van Daele to press on out front.
Shortly after that first climb and the split in the breakaway, Rafferty attacked the bunch with Gil Gelders (Soudal-QucikStep DevTeam). That duo very quickly collected Savioz and Leone, making for a four-man group chasing the two leaders.
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With 40km to go, the two leaders had 1:40 on the bunch and about 40 seconds on the four-man group Rafferty was in. On the second climb of the day - the 4.1km Novello crested with 35km to go - Zamperini dropped Van Daele up front. And back in the chasing group, Rafferty and Gelders dropped Savioz and Leone.
After the climb, Rafferty and Gelders joined up with Zamperini and that trio had 1:05 on the peloton with 22km remaining. Though the peloton ramped up the speed in pursuit of the three leaders, with 10km to go the gap was almost one minute, and they still had 40 seconds with 5km to go.
Rafferty was not shirking the workload in the breakaway; the Irishman looking determined to make it all the way. With 2km to go the leaders still had 20 seconds. However, in the final kilometre, and with the bunch now closing right up on the leaders, Gelders attacked Rafferty and Zamperini.
That move was successful, with Gelders taking the stage win just six seconds ahead of the peloton as Rafferty and Zamperini were caught by the bunch in sight of the finish line. Though that was a disappointing conclusion for Rafferty, he looks in great form.
He started the race yesterday with 12th in the opening TT and has now moved up to 9th on GC after today's ride; finishing 26th, and in the peloton, but having picked up three seconds in time bonuses along the way. Rafferty also scored points on the climbs today and is now 2nd in that classification and 4th in the points classification.
