Adam Rafferty (Hagens Berman Jayco) has continued his flawless ride at the demanding Tour of Rhodes (2.2) and is now nicely poised for what should be his best general classification result in a UCI-ranked stage race.
As the 19-year-old continued to play his cards perfectly today, two other Irish riders in the field - Conn McDunphy (Team Skyline) and young Cal Tutty (Velo Performance) - rode very well on the 158.5km stage from Rhodes to Kalithies. Cian Keogh (Team Skyline) also gave a good account of himself.
McDunphy, a repeat winner of international races in recent seasons, was up the road today, doing much of the driving in the breakaway while also picking up climbers' classification points and some time bonus seconds.
Though that breakaway was caught, paving the way for a very fast run in to a sketchy final sprint, the former Irish elite TT champion has demonstrated his early season form and looks good for the races to come.
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For his part, first-year U23 Tutty is among a young group of Irish riders in the Velo Performance U23 development team in the middle of a baptism of fire in Greece. They are all just out of the juniors and racing against well-drilled UCI Continental development teams, with a sprinkling of former world champions and ex-World Tour riders.
But Tutty lasted in the front group today, as the race split to pieces, while he also handled the final approach to the finish solidly. He lost a little time in the splits but showed he is already finding his feet in much bigger company than he is used to.
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Today's stage finished on an incline, with the victory going to Norwegian Ludvik Holstad (Lillehammer CK Continental Team) from Pole Marcin Budziński (ATT Investments) and former African Games road race champion Youcef Reguigui (Madar Pro Cycling Team), from Algeria.
Rafferty was 11th, staying attentive at the front and being well-supported by his team, in a bid not to be caught out by any gaps at the finish. The Irish rider was 11th, and among 34 riders all credited with the same time as the stage winner.
After that group, gaps of seconds appeared in the bunch as the final push for the line took its toll. Tutty was in 76th, at 31 seconds, on a day of significant time losses further back the field. Keogh was just a few places back, in 81st at 36 seconds.
After his breakaway heroics, McDunphy finished in 111th at six minutes while Michael Collins, Conor Prendergast and Willem O'Connor - all Velo Performance - were 117th, 119th and 123rd at 13:46, 13:50 and 13:53. Eoghan Lattimore was a non-finisher today after he was struck down by illness.
The race concludes with a 155.9km stage into Kremasti tomorrow, Sunday. Rafferty tried for time bonuses today, but was unsuccessful, as some of his rivals picked up vital seconds.
He slips one place to 4th overall; some 7 seconds down on race leader, Denmark's former junior TT world champion, Gustav Wang (XDS Astana Development Team).
