If Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) wins the Giro d'Italia, Darren Raffety's fingerprints will be all over the trophy. The Irish road race champion got up the road early on today's brutally hard stage 16, working himself into a position to help his team leader later in the stage.
Just as it did at last year's Vuelta, when Rafferty worked brilliantly as a satellite rider for team leader Carapaz, today's teamwork went perfectly according to plan. It meant Rafferty was still with the select group of general classification riders for the final climb.
He took to the front of that group in a bid to keep the pace as high as possible, to weaken Carapaz's rivals and help set up the Ecuadorian for his devastating attack later on the climb. And when that effort came, it was a killer move.
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With just over 5km to go on the 18.1km Passo di San Valentino cat 1 climb to the finish line, Carapaz let rip; sprinting clear of the small group and getting away immediately. Neither of the big GC men he was with - race leader Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Simon Yates (Visma Lease a Bike) - were able to respond.
And though Carapaz sometimes has a reputation for big attacks, only to prove unable to sustain his effort, there were no such problems today. From the moment he jumped - from a tiny select group - he gained time every inch of the journey to the line.
Meanwhile, the GC fight is well and truly on! ? pic.twitter.com/U7pTG7M2UF
— Cycling on TNT Sports (@cyclingontnt) May 27, 2025
Derek Gee (Israel Premier Tech) eventual went after him and was only 13 seconds down on the line; the Canadian now 4th overall as a result and in with a big shot of finishing on the final GC podium.
There were breakaway men up ahead of Carapaz, and a counter attacker, when he made his move, meaning he was not going for the stage win. And in the battle to take the race lead today, Carapaz came up a little short. But he was the man of the race; powerfully going forward as others with designs on winning this race were on the ropes.
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In the end, Carapaz finished in 4th place on the stage. But he put 42 seconds into Simon Yates and 1:36 into Del Torro. The man who began the stage 3rd overall - Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates - XRG) - blew up today; slipping to 17th overall at 13:27.
Meanwhile, the 2023 Giro winner, Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) abandoned the race today after suffering another crash. Suddenly the number of riders in with a shot of winning this race probably numbers just three, maybe four.
Del Torro is still a real contender and continues to lead, though his advantage was slashed today. He now leads overall by just 26 seconds from Simon Yates with Carapaz 3rd at 31 seconds and Gee 4th at 1:31.
With no TTs remaining in the final week, and with Carapaz now looking so strong, Rafferty may end this race on the winning team and having helped secure that win. Indeed, such an outcome looks extremely likely.
Today the Co Tyrone rider got up the road early on the 203km stage in a seven-man group. That was soon down to six after Josh Tarling (Ineos Grenadiers) crashed and had to abandon. With Rafferty were: Wout van Aert (Visma Lease a Bike), Xabier Mikel Azparren (Q36.5), Lorenzo Germani (Groupama-FDJ), Josef Černý (Soudal -QuickStep) and Jon Barrenetxea (Movistar).
A group of about 20 got across to them and from that group the XDS Astana Team duo of Christian Scaroni and king the mountains Lorenzo Fortunato survived out front to take 1st and 2nd, crossing the line side-by-side.
The final place on an all-Italian stage podium went to 21-year-old Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe). Without Roglic to work for, he attacked from the select group on the final climb and finished solo, some 55 seconds down on the Astana 1-2.
Behind the stage win battle, Rafferty was among the breakaway men mopped up by the select group, before drifting backwards. However, the Irish rider went to the front of that select group on the final climb, pushing it on in the service of Carapaz, who was 4th on the stage and now has a fantastic chance of overall victory.
After his breakaway efforts, for almost 170km, and his selfless team work, Rafferty rode up the final climb to place 40th on the stage at 18:04. Sam Bennett (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) was 149th at 40:25. The race continues tomorrow with almost 4,000m of climbing on the 155km race route from San Michele all’Adige to Bormio.
