Darren Rafferty, the young Irish cyclist who had a breakthrough season last year in France, has just taken his first victory in a major UCI-ranked race. The 18-year-old was best on the uphill finish at Strade Bianche di Romagna after 156km of racing into Gradara.
The race today was the inaugural U23 edition of the Strade Bianche professional classic race. It also took the riders over the famed white gravel sectors featured in the pro events, with 10 to be tackled today by the field, which included many of the best U23 riders in the world.
Rafferty (Hagens Berman Axeon) proved too strong on the uphill finish for the other fancied riders still at the front in the finale, beating Czech Petr Kelemen (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) by four seconds with Italian Simone Raccani (Zalf Euromobil Fior) placing 3rd at seven seconds.
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Britain's Sean Flynn (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) and Germany's Jakob Gessner (Team Lotto Kern-Haus) rounded out the top five, at 10 and 25 seconds respectively.
Today's victory is confirmation, if it were needed, of Rafferty's status as a world class rider; the 18-year-old claiming such a big win in what are just his first few months in the U23 ranks.
How it unfolded
Rafferty was intent on making the breakaway today and joined several attacks in the first 30 minutes of racing. However, those efforts drew a blank when a group of about a dozen riders went clear to form the early breakaway and the Irishman missed that move.
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Despite missing that split, Rafferty was undeterred and when the breakaway was still clear at around the halfway point, the Irish teenager and some of the other strongest riders left in the main field made life difficult for the others.
On the hardest gravel sector, they raced all-out off the front for a blistering five minutes and managed to get clear, with five of them eventually getting up to the early breakaway.
Once the catch was made, the odds were somewhat against the Irish rider as three teams had two men in the large breakaway group. Those three teams dictated the attacking for most of the remainder of the race.
By the time the leaders reached the final gravel sector the attacking had taken its toll, with just eight riders remaining in the front group.
On that sector Rafferty managed to get clear with eventual runner-up Kelemen. And coming into the finish, with about 750m to go, Rafferty hit the afterburners on the final climb and surged clear solo to take an incredible win.
