Irish junior rider Darren Rafferty has taken another two wins in France after a really strong ride in the Tour Junior Causses-Aigoual-Cévennes stage race at the weekend.
The 18-year-old, Irish junior TT champion, was again the winner against the watch in Sunday morning's stage 2 test. He then went out that afternoon and claimed the hilly stage 3 solo, despite his recent run of success making him a marked man on the French junior scene.
While he won two of the three stages at the weekend, that wasn't enough this time to take the final yellow jersey. However, he finished 2nd overall and also took the climbers' jersey for his efforts. He only needed another two seconds on the final stage to claim the overall victory but just came up short.
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Sunday morning's stage 2 TT was 9.15km in Logrian-Florian, in the Gard department of southern France. Rafferty won that test from Victor Jean and Artem Shmidt (both Culture Vélo Look Racing Team U19) by five and six seconds respectively. The young Irishman clocked an average speed of 49.98km in the TT.
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He went on to win the 80km road stage in Lasalle by four seconds from Corentin Devroute (SCO Dijon Junior) and Julien Azile Lozach (Nouvelle-Aquitaine Occitanie).
The field split to pieces on the climbs, with the 4th rider finishing 43 seconds down and the remainder of the field stretched a long way down the road. The final yellow jersey was won by Azile Lozach, with Rafferty 2nd at just two seconds.
The Irishman's two latest wins extended an incredible run since he traveled to France to take up his place with Team 31 Jollycycles U19 at the start of last month.
While he broke several bones in a crash in the Hilltown GP in mid May, he came storming back into action after six weeks away by breaking the Irish junior 10 mile TT record. He then went to France and won three stage races in three weekends, taking three stage wins along the way.
Rafferty was also part of the Team 31 Jolly Cycles U19 line-up that won the junior TTT round of the French Cup last month. His two latest wins at the weekend bring to nine his victory tally since starting his racing stint in France.
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