Highlights étape 5 #TDR2024.
Images RTS. Carlos Rodriguez (@INEOSGrenadiers) garde son maillot jaune. Dorian Godon cueille son 2e bouquet @decathlonAG2RLM. #TDR #TDRnonstop pic.twitter.com/yQy2sU6nE3— Tour de Romandie (@TourDeRomandie) April 28, 2024
Darren Rafferty was on the attack, in torrential rain, through the last stage of Tour de Romandie and was full of aggression until deep into the final
Darren Rafferty (EF Education-EasyPost) brought an end to his week at Tour de Romandie with a very strong performance on the final stage yesterday when the 20-year-old was off the front in very difficult conditions.
Rafferty was in the main breakaway of the day but even when they were caught he remained full of riding and was involved in moves to try and get clear again.
Riding in torrential rain, the Irishman got up the road in a four-man move about 30km into the 150km stage starting and finishing in Vernier. Rémi Cavagna (Movistar) was the main protagonist from the start and though his first efforts failed, he soon joined the breakaway with Rafferty, Marco Brenner (Tudor Pro Cycling Team), and Alexandre Balmer (Switzerland).
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They managed to pull out their gap to over two minutes while efforts from behind to get across to them - including by Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-QuickStep) and Jan Tratnik (Visma-Lease A Bike) - came to nothing as they were reabsorbed by the bunch.
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Ineos Grenadiers was defending the yellow jersey on the shoulders of Carlos Rodríguez and worked on the front of the peloton, aided by Lidl Trek, to keep the breakaway's advantage at around two minutes amid very tight gaps at the top of the general classification.
Up front, the breakaway's hopes of staying clear began to look slim as the gap was down to about 1:30 with 60km to go. Around 10km later, Cavagna decided to push on along from the breakaway. However, about 15km into his solo effort, Rafferty and the others caught him again as they approached the climb of Dardagny for the third and final team.
The breakaway was then gradually reeled in, with about 30km to go, but not before Rafferty joined some of the attackers who were first across to his move. However, those efforts - though some looked promising for a while - were also wiped out.
That paved the way for a sprint from a reduced bunch, won by Dorian Godon (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) from Simone Consonni (Lidl-Trek) and Dion Smith (Intermarché-Wanty). Rafferty finished in the 70-rider bunch, in 32nd place and ended the race in a very solid 23rd place, some 3:59 down on Rodríguez.
The Spanish rider, taking his first general classification victory, claimed that final yellow jersey by just seven seconds from Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-hansgrohe), with his team - and revelation of the race - Florian Lipowitz in 3rd at just nine seconds.
Eddie Dunbar (Team Jayco AlUla) was the only other Irish rider in the race but he was a non-starter yesterday morning in what was his final race before an expected appearance in the Giro d'Italia, starting next weekend.
