Darren Rafferty (EF Education-EasyPost) has put in one of the best rides of his fledgling pro career on stage 7 of Critérium du Dauphiné, with 4,300 metres of climbing, the most of any of the right stages.
Rafferty, a 20-year-old from Co Tyrone and the first rider from Northern Ireland to ever secure a World Tour contract, got up the road early today in a quality breakaway group that gained six minutes at one point.
And when that breakaway swelled, and then split in the business end of the stage, the young Irishman remained in the fight, proving one of the strongest in the lead group.
Though he was eventually mowed down by the yellow jersey select group with just 5km to go, with race leader Primož Roglič (Bora-hansgrohe) eventually winning the stage and extended his advantage at the top.
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The 155.3km stage from Albertville to the top of the HC Samoëns 1600 climb, with three first category climbs also to be tackled along the way.
After about 20km of racing, amid a battle to get up the road, Rafferty got clear in a five-man group that also contained Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates), Davide Formolo (Movistar), Lorenzo Fortunato (Astana) and Nicolas Prodhomme (Decathlon-AG2R-La Mondiale Team).
Those five busied themselves out front and soon had a lead of two minutes on the peloton. On the first climb of the day - the cat 1 Col des Saisies crested with 33.5km completed - a chasing group caught the five leaders.
In that chase group were: Kevin Giniets (Groupama-FDJ), Warren Barguil (dsm-firmenech PostNL), Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), Koen Bowman (Visma-Lease a bike) and Dorian Godon (Decathlon-AG2R-La Mondiale).
That 10-man group settled in for the day and continued to pull out their gap, until it went up to six minutes. However, as the breakaway moved on to the penultimate climb - the 14km Col de la Ramaz crested about 40km from the finish - the final effectively began in the breakaway.
When the breakaway split twice on that climb - between the 50-45km to go point - Rafferty proved among the strongest. He made the first half of the group when it split with about 50km to go.
And when some attacking in the breakaway began with about 45km to go, Rafferty looked very comfortable getting across to those who attacked and pulling clear in a trio with Warren Barguil (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) and Lorenzo Fortunato (Astana Qazaqstan Team).
As the breakaway regrouped, still on the penultimate climb and with over 40km to go, it was Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) who pressed on solo and he was chased by five riders, including Rafferty, as the others had fallen by the wayside.
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Going over the top of the climb, with the rain falling, Soler led solo and had built a lead of some 1:43 on the Rafferty group, with the yellow jersey group some 5:20 down on the lone leader.
However, that yellow jersey group - the remains of the peloton - was being led by Bora-hansgrohe and it looked ominously like Roglič was targeting the stage win, which was bad news for those ahead.
When the leaders reached the base of the final climb of the day, Samoëns 1600, up to the line with 10km to go, Soler was still leading solo, by two minutes on the Rafferty group, and with four minutes on the remains of the peloton.
What that four-minute gap looked like it gave Soler a great chance of victory, the final climb was a HC ascent of 9.9km averaging nine per cent gradient, meaning there was plenty of time for all of the escapees to be caught. And that's precisely what happened.
Rafferty's small group split with about 6km to go, with the Irishman emerging from that split on the back foot, losing ground to the others. However, back in the remains of the peloton some of the big names were also in big trouble, with Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) among those dropped.
With just over 5km to go, Rafferty and Prodhomme - two of the breakaway men - were caught by the remains of the bunch, now a select group of no more than 15 riders hunting down the others still up the road, but now the gap to solo leader Marc Soler at just two minutes.
With 2km to go, the select group - still lead by Aleksandr Vlasov - recaptured Soler and the scene was set for a battle between the general classification men for the stage victory. That group stayed mostly together until the final few hundred metres when Roglič sprinted in to victory ahead of Matteo Jorgenson (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) with Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) 3rd at three seconds.
Rafferty, as expected and with the rest of the breakaway men, went backwards when he was caught and eventually finished in 21st at 5:08; a solid result on paper but after a brilliant ride at the front of one of cycling's big stage races.
Sam Bennett (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) would never expect to feature on a day like today but the Irish sprinted lasted in the reducing peloton for much longer than many riders. He only slipped out the back door on the penultimate climb, with just over 40km to go; a very promising sign his condition is on the up.
Bennett eventually finished in 95th in a group at 27 minutes, with just 109 riders remaining in the race of the 154 starters that set out from Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule one week ago.
⛰️ The queen stage of this #Dauphiné didn't spare the riders, but it smiled on @rogla ??, who confirmed his good form and his position as the GC leader.
A second title in sight? ? pic.twitter.com/8NTZKeoK8I— Critérium du Dauphiné (@dauphine) June 8, 2024
