Darren Rafferty (Hagens Berman Axeon) has continued his bounce back to strong form in Europe with an impressive display in Belgium, spending most of the final 50km of U23 Liège-Bastogne-Liège on the attack.
The 19-year-old Irishman was part of the small group sprinting for victory; his ride coming just five days after he placed 5th in Giro del Belvedere (1.2U).
Yesterday after 171km of action at U23 Liège-Bastogne-Liège Rafferty also placed 5th, with Francesco Busatto (Circus-ReUz-Technord) taking victory in the sprint from the 14-rider front group. Busatto has been stepping up to the Intermarché-Circus-Wanty World Tour team quite regularly so far this season and that higher level of racing clear stood him in good stead yesterday.
He was best in the sprint from Antoine Huby (Vendée U) and Davide De Pretto (Italy), with Ramses Debruyne (Lotto Dstny Development Team) 4th and Rafferty 5th.
Advertisement
Rafferty was part of a five-rider group that got clear on the Cote de la Velcquee - some 3.1km averaging 6.1 per cent with just over 50km remaining - in pursuit of a 5-man lead group. From that point of the race, several groups got out of the peloton, eventually creating a 26-rider group out front.
Related News
However, they never managed to pull out a big gap and were eventually caught by the peloton, with Jumbo Visma Development doing much of the chasing.
However, when the riders hit the 500 metre long Côte de Bolland - with an average gradient at 10 per cent - inside the final 10km the 14-rider group that contested the finish got clear and sprinted it out for victory.
