Have bike, will travel. Crossing the Celtic Sea to race has been a rite of passage for ambitious young Irish cyclists since Shay Elliott in the 1950s, but the game is changing in the 21st century. While Elliott didn’t move to the Continent until he was 22 years old, the Irish riders of today can’t afford to wait around, not when WorldTour teams are scouting talent at such a young age.
Archie Ryan and Darren Rafferty step up to the WorldTour in 2024 with EF Education-EasyPost, where they will join Irish champion Ben Healy, but they were both already based with teams abroad when they were juniors, and they spent their under-23 careers with squads expressly dedicated to preparing future professionals.
The 22-year-old Ryan is a native of Wicklow, and he began cycling with his twin brother Will at Bray Wheelers at the age of 12. After racing with Basque team Gaursa La Tostadora and British outfit Zappi as a junior, Ryan joined Jumbo-Visma’s nascent development squad in 2020, placing a promising eighth at that year’s Ronde de l’Isard.
A recurring knee injury ruined his 2021 season, but the gifted climber bounced back to place 4th overall at the Tour de l’Avenir in 2022. A month later, Ryan slotted into Jumbo-Visma’s first team for the Tour of Slovakia and turned heads by winning the toughest stage. Although the knee issued again kept Ryan off the bike for long periods in 2023, he won a stage of the Tour de l’Avenir and placed second at Il Piccolo Lombardia.
The 20-year-old Rafferty hails from Coalisland in Tyrone, and he also played Gaelic football, swam and ran in his youth before focusing fully on cycling at age 16. “I was getting pretty skinny for cycling and I was getting hit with a lot of shoulders playing football,” he laughs. “I had to pick one.”
Rafferty raced with Team 31 Jolly Cycles in France as a junior before joining Axel Merckx’s Hagens Bermans Axeon team in 2022. A strong time triallist and climber, Rafferty placed second at the 2023 Giro Next Gen before winning the demanding Giro della Valle d’Aosta. He is also the Irish under-23 time trial champion, a trait that runs in the family. That same night, his younger brother Adam claimed the junior title, while sister Aliyah later claimed the under-16 crown.
Cyclingnews caught up with Rafferty and Ryan after their first training camp with EF Education-EasyPost to discuss their journeys to this point and their plans for the road ahead.
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