Talented Irish cyclist Darren Rafferty, aged 20, claimed a significant win on Sunday at the national road championships, outpacing the competition which included some of Ireland’s top cyclists. Rafferty, a member of the EF Education-EasyPost professional team, secured the victory in Athea, Co Limerick, finishing 16 seconds ahead of Dillon Corkery of the St Michel – Mavic – Auber93 team.
In third place was Rory Townsend, the 2022 national champion from the Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team, who outpaced Dean Harvey, the under-23 category winner from Trinity Racing, by a full 1’07”. Despite finishing in fourth at the preceding Thursday’s time trial, Rafferty surprised himself with the victory. He initially was unsure about his fitness levels and potential performance but performed well beyond his expectations.
Highlights of the race included a key breakaway involving nine riders, two bike changes for Rafferty, and a push from both Rafferty and Corkery during the final 25km. Corkery unfortunately experienced a cramp with approximately 10km left, which saw him slip from the top spot and finish in the second position.
Eddie Dunbar of Jayco-AlUla, a favourite at the beginning of the race, finished in eighth place after seemingly pushing too hard early on in the race.
Rafferty’s victory sees him continuing the EF Education-EasyPost team’s streak, following last year’s win by teammate Ben Healy who was absent from this year’s race due to his upcoming debut at the Tour de France.
In other news, Lucy Benezet Minns of the Tofauti Everyone Active Women’s team, added to her recent triumph in the junior time trial title with a staggering win in the junior women’s road race, finishing a full 5’36” ahead of teammate Aliyah Rafferty.
In the elite women’s road race that took place on Saturday, Fiona Mangan, riding for Cynisca Cycling, emerged victorious. The leader for most of the race, Grace Reynolds of Brother UK – On Form, was overtaken by Mangan who also claimed the road race/time trial double. Despite their skilled performance, defending champion Lara Gillespie of UAE Team ADQ and Megan Armitage from EF Education-Cannondale fell short tactically and finished third and seventh respectively. Caoimhe O’Brien from DAS-Hutchinson-Brother UK took home fourth place and the Under 23 title. Mangan, who had previous experience racing with some competitors, expressed unpredictability as a key feature of Nationals.
In the junior men’s road race, Patrick Casey from Team Grenke-Auto Elder stole the show. Casey led the field to finish 1’31” ahead of Sam Coleman of AS Villemur and Killian O’Brien from Veleka Team.