Darren Rafferty up the road after an epic ride on stage 5 of the Giro d'Italia after bridging across to the move solo (Photo: Luigi Sestilli-Mirror Media)
Darren Rafferty (EF Education-EasyPost) put in an epic ride on the rain-sodden 203km stage 5 at Giro d'Italia today, Wednesday. He bridged across to the breakaway solo after it was already clear by well over a minute.
It was the second day in succession the young Irishman was making his mark off the front. However, the effort required to get across to the move today cost him dearly during the business end of the stage.
When the front group, numbering 13 riders, fell apart on the 6.6km climb of Montagna Grande di Viggiano, with gradients of over nine per cent, Rafferty was not among the six men that went forward and stayed clear.
He was eventually absorbed by the remains of the peloton, after 80km on the attack, and later pulled the pin. He got into the largest group on the road, and which finished some 17 minutes done on the winner by the time it reached Potenza.
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"I aged a couple of years today," Co Tyrone's Rafferty (22) said on social media accompanied by a photograph of himself getting some food down immediately on crossing the line.
Darren Rafferty leads the breakaway in the lashing rain in stage 5 of Giro d'Italia (Photo: Luigi Sestili-Mirror Media)
The breakaway group of 12 went clear in two moves - an initial five-strong group on the Cat 2 Prestieri shortly after the start and then seven more some 40km into the stage.
In that move were Victor Campenaerts (Visma-Lease a Bike), Ben Turner (Netcompany Ineos), Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious), Manuele Tarozzi (Bardiani CSF Saber 7) and Martin Tjøtta (Uno-X Mobility).
Also present were Einer Rubio and Lorenzo Milesi (Movistar), Thomas Silva and Christian Scaroni (XDS Astana), Gianmarco Garofoli (Soudal-QuickStep) and UAE Team Emirates-XRG's Igor Arrieta and yesterday's winner Jhonatan Narváez.
With 140km remaining on the stage, and as the breakaway had 1:30 on the main bunch, Rafferty attacked from the peloton. Unfortunately, nobody went with him and he was left to try and ride across the gap alone.
Incredibly, he made it within 16km, though the effort, in lashing rain, really looked like it was taking a lot out of him.
Spain’s Igor Arrieta Lizarraga of UAE Team Emirates XRG wins stage 5 ahead of new race leader Afonso Eulálio (Photo: Massimo Paolone)
As he made the juncture with the leaders, with 123km to go, many of them had dropped back to the team cars for food. And as they regrouped, large gaps opened, with Rafferty and a couple of others making big efforts to close up to those ahead.
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Though the Irishman then settled into the breakaway for the next 60km or so, he was among those distanced on the climb with just over 55km to go.
The remains of the peloton, which was over two minutes down, caught the Irishman with just over 50km remaining to the finish after a brave effort.
Up front, Spain's Igor Arrieta (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Portugal's Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain-Victorious) proved best of the breakaway men, pulling clear of the others.
The elastic back to the bunch snapped and the gap between the head of the race and the peloton went over eight minutes.
And then high drama unfolded at the front. With 14km to go Arrieta crashed on a wet descent, leaving Eulálio leading alone.
Race leader Giulio Ciccone was foced to ride on the front of the bunch as the gap to the leaders grew much bigger (Photo: Fabio Ferrari)
The 24-year-old was already certain of taking the race lead and now it looked like he had been served stage victory on a plate. However, 8km after Arrieta's spill, Eulálio also slid out in the rain, with his Spanish rival soon catching him.
No sooner were they back together than Arrieta overshot a sweeping bend and briefly darted off course and into a side road, with just 2km remaining.
He got going again, and then almost crashed for a second time, but somehow managed to claw his way back up to Eulálio with just 300m to go. Arrieta then easily beat Eulálio to victory, in a drag race to the line, after a gripping final.
Four other breakaway men filled positions 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th - stage 2 winner and former race leader Silva, Milesi, Scaroni and Garofoli, in that order.
Today's maglia rosa, Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), finished in the peloton, numbering just 33 riders, some 7:13 down. As the breakaway's gap went over five minutes, the Italian had no team support and chased on the front of the bunch himself.
Portugal's Eulálio now leads overall by 2:51 from Arrieta, with Scaroni 3rd at 3:34 ahead of a 141km flat stage 6 tomorrow to Naples.
As well as Rafferty finishing 113th today, in a group at 17:49, fellow Irish rider Ryan Mullen (NSN Cycling Team) was 133rd in a group at 26:36.
