Darren Rafferty is poised for a superb second place overall finish when the Giro Next Gen concludes on Sunday, with the Dungannon rider holding that position on Saturday’s crucial penultimate stage.
The 176-kilometre mountain stage from Possagno to Pian del Cansiglio featured a sawtooth profile and had three category one climbs inside the final 70 kilometres. This plus aggressive racing saw the overall contenders all go head to head, with a reshuffling of places inside the top 20 taking place.
Rafferty’s team-mate Jan Christen (Hagens Berman Axeon) ultimately won the stage, dedicating his win to Swiss compatriot Gino Mäder, who died one day after a crash on Thursday’s stage of the Tour de Suisse. Second place, 13 seconds back, went to overall race leader Johannes Staune-Mittet (Jumbo-Visma Development Team), who succeeded in distancing closest rival Rafferty on the final climb.
The latter limited his loses and finished seventh, 35 seconds behind Christen and 22 seconds adrift of Staune-Mittet. He comfortably held on to his second place overall, with the rider behind him Alexy Faure Prost (Circus-ReUz-Technord) finishing well back.
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Rafferty heads into Sunday’s undulating final stage 47 seconds behind Staune-Mittet and one minute 15 seconds ahead of the rider who is now in third, the German Hannes Wilksch (Tudor Pro Cycling Team U23).
The Irishman slips one place to second in the Combination classification and also drops one place to third in the King of the Mountains competition.
No Irishman has ever finished on the general classification podium of the Giro Next Gen, the under-23 version of the Tour of Italy. It is regarded as a major predictor of future success and Rafferty has boosted his chances of a big pro contract.
Meanwhile, Ronan Dunne took a superb eighth in round two of the UCI Downhill World Cup in Leogang on Saturday. The national champion set a time of three minutes 1.548 in the final, which earned the Continental Nukeproof Factory Racing team rider that top 10 overall finish.
Compatriot Oisín O’Callaghan (YT Mob) was 17th. Dunne’s result was his best World Cup result since he took fourth last year in Snoeshoe.
“I’m super happy,” he said. “I was so close to a second podium so that has me pretty hungry for more anyway. The run was perfect. I’m feeing like I messed some sections up but in general it was just smooth and then quick. I’m super happy but I just can’t wait to get racing again. It’s been a sick week.”
