Darren Rafferty reigns on final day of national road cycling championships

The final day of action for the 2024 Cycling Ireland Road National Championships, hosted by Newcastle West Cycling Club, saw the elite men take to the County Limerick roads in search of the national champions jersey.

Victory in the elite men's road race went to Darren Raffety for EF Education, who is still in the under-23 category.

Rafferty's race was far from ideal, with two bike changes due to mechanical issues, but this didn’t prevent him from coming out on top.

Former Rás Tailteann winner Dillon Corkery finished in second place for St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93.

Rafferty and Corkery pulled away from the other riders as they began the smaller five inner laps. The pair worked well together, but with 11 kilometres to go, Corkey cramped up and Rafferty rode away.

Corkery closed the gap again, but had to settle for second.

Rory Townsend, (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team), claimed third place ahead of Dean Harvey (Trinity Racing).

Harvey did not come home empty-handed as he picked up the jersey for winning the under-23 national road race championship.

It certainly was a special day for the Rafferty family, with two brothers in action in the elite men and their sister Aliyah finishing as runner-up in the junior women's category.

"It was so nice to do it here with some many people from Island Wheelers, my home club, and yeah to keep it with EF another year is something really nice for the team and for myself," Rafferty said.