Adam Rafferty, in purple, in the early seven-man breakaway on Friday; the Irishman the only one from this move to be in the shake-up on the final climb (Photo: Fabio Ferrari)
Adam Rafferty (Hagens Berman Jayco) was set to go into the penultimate stage of Giro d'Italia Next Gen today, Saturday, 8th overall but with a huge day in the mountains ahead.
"I'm looking forward to it," he told stickybottle looking ahead to the biggest test to come. "I'm aware what the task is, do you know what I mean?
"It's going to be fucking awful. But it's one of those ones, you've just go to dig in."
He added today's stage probably suited him less than yesterday as it was more tilted towards the pure climbers.
"Saturday is purely only climbing, you're going up or down. But it is the Giro, I'll get it everything I have," he explained of the 3,200m of elevation gain, over three main climbs, including the final cat 1 of Piana delle Mele to the finish.
Advertisement
Related News
"I'll try to keep myself up there and it's really about damage limitation, I think. And hopefully, if I've done my job right, I'll be in a position to start taking back time, and people, in the time trial on Sunday against the climbers."
Yesterday, Friday, Rafferty went away in a seven-man breakaway very early. Yet he was the sole survivor in that move on the final climb, placing 10th on the day and moving up to 8th overall; arguably the best ride of his career to date.
"It was a hard race," he said. "The idea to go in the breakaway came about 15-20 minutes before the start.
"And I was able to get into it... seven of us got away maybe about 30 minutes (into the race).
"Then, quite weirdly, a group of 25 riders came across, so we ended up have a group of 32, it was weird.
"Ben (Wiggins) was with those who came across and he was phenomenal all day, getting me bottles, and if the pace ever dropped he went to the front and drilled it.
"He was, for sure, the best... I couldn't have asked for any more. And on Thursday as well, Jed (Smithson) pulled me through what was, to be honest, the hardest day I've had on a bike ever."
