Darren Rafferty belies his youth to take national road championship victory – The Irish Times

Prodigious young Irish cyclist Darren Rafferty took an important victory on Sunday, leaving some of Ireland’s best riders in his wake as he soloed to victory in the national road championships.

The 20-year-old EF Education-EasyPost professional reached the line in Athea, Co Limerick, 16 seconds ahead of Dillon Corkery (St Michel – Mavic – Auber93), while 2022 National Champion Rory Townsend (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) was ahead of 23rd category winner Dean Harvey (Trinity Racing) for third place, 1’07 back.

“It’s pretty incredible. I had my expectations quite low after Thursday’s disappointing TT,” said Rafferty about his fourth place in the time trial. “I wanted to redeem myself a bit, but didn’t really think I had the legs or the fitness to get a good result. I came in with pretty low expectations and thought, we’ll see how it turns out.

Things went much better than he expected, with the Dungannon native finding himself in the day’s main breakaway of nine riders, returning to that group after two bike changes during the race, and then riding clear with 2023 Rás Tailteann winner Corkery in the last 25 km.

Corkery cramped with just over 10km to go and then lost contact, but chased hard to the line to take silver. Eddie Dunbar (Jayco-AlUla) had started as the big favorite after winning Thursday’s time trial, but probably did too much early and eventually finished eighth.

Rafferty’s victory keeps the national champion’s jersey within the ranks of EF Education-EasyPost. Teammate Ben Healy won last year, but missed the race due to his expected debut in the Tour de France next weekend.

Earlier, Lucy Benezet Minns (Tofauti Everyone Active Women) finished a staggering 5’36 ahead of teammate Aliyah Rafferty in the junior women’s road race, completing the double after winning the junior time trial title on Thursday evening.

Fiona Mangan (Cynisca Cycling) triumphed in the elite women’s road race on Saturday, successfully bridging long-time leader Grace Reynolds (Brother UK – On Form) to also complete the dual road race/time trial.

Defending champions Lara Gillespie (UAE Team ADQ) and Megan Armitage (EF Education-Cannondale) were also very strong, but missed tactically and had to settle for third and seventh places. Caoimhe O’Brien (DAS-Hutchinson-Brother UK) finished fourth and won the Under 23 title.

“I also raced with some girls in Europe this past year, so you know their strengths,” Mangan said. “But at Nationals you never know what’s going to happen.

Patrick Casey (Team Grenke-Auto Elder) blew around the field in the junior road race, finishing 1’31 ahead of Sam Coleman (AS Villemur) and Killian O’Brien (Veleka Team).