Photos taken from Adam’s social media pages, Glenn Dunwoody, Sean Rowe, ambre.photos FR and Freddy Guérin – DirectVelo
Foreword Dany:” Adam is a very talented lad from the Dungannon Area (Co-Tyrone) and from a very successful and well known cycling family in Ireland with as base Island Wheelers. He is racing for the Team 31 Jollycycles u19 in the Haute-Garonne area in Southern France. His older bro Darren started the success of the Rafferty’s, and will be a UCI World pro rider in 2024, Adam certainly will follow this trend, as very much noted due to his 8th fastest in the World Champs in Glasgow in the summer, and his many wins internationally, and in Ireland as a junior, and his younger sis Aliyah already well on her way to become one of the top girls in Ireland as an U16. The dozens of Irish Champs jerseys in that household most have his own wardrobe, and probably not big enough for the ones who still will be coming. A very polite young man, bags of talent and a credit to his parents, as the other champions of his family…It makes me happy to see such dedication to our beloved sport, here below his thoughts of his summer racing in France, Scotland and Ireland, we wish him and his siblings good luck for the future!!
This year I returned to France for a summer of racing staying in the Occitanie region in the south of the country. I flew over at the beginning of July (which I was able to pay for with my Belgian project bursary ) and managed to take my first win in my first race (Photo above courtesy of @ambre.photos)
Next was the tour of Austria which very sadly was cancelled due to the death of a rider
From then on my attention turned fully to the time trial world championships. Living in France, I was able to live “like a pro “ and could stay 100% focused during my preparation. Fortunately the hard work over these weeks paid off with an 8th at the world champs.(Photo below courtesy of Sean Rowe)
After a quick stop back in Ireland I was out to France again, and straight in to a stage race where I was able to win the time trial stage and the overall GC!!. “Tour du Junior Causses Aigoual Cevennes France”
1st. RAFFERTY Adam Team 31 Jolly Cycles U19 05:00:19
2nd. CHARRET Camille VC Villefranche Beaujolais Juniors + 18
3rd. GUICHARD Carter Bourg-en-Bresse Ain Cyclisme U19 + 44
17th. COLEMAN Sam Team 31 Jolly Cycles U19 + 02:25 (Sam will have his own report next week)
With all the racing done , myself and Sam decided to take the train to the Pyrenees for the day which was the perfect way to finish out my time in France for the summer
Thank you Sandrine and Marc Averseng for giving the boys a home from home. Along with Team 31 Jollycycles u19 you have given them a great introduction to racing in France and Europe and played a big part in their futures!
