Landmark win for Rory Townsend at Hamburg Classic
The 30-year-old sparked off a four-man breakaway inside the opening minutes of the 207km event, helping it to build a lead of more than four minutes. And while the main bunch rode hard to try to haul them back in the finale, Townsend and two of the other three riders still had ten seconds' lead with one kilometre to go.
The chasers drew closer and closer but Townsend opened up his sprint early and was strong enough to hold off those behind, finishing metres ahead of top sprinters Arnaud De Lie (Lotto), Paul Magnier (Soudal QuickStep) and Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck).
"It's crazy," the Q36.5 Pro Cycling rider said. "It's just pure disbelief, as you could see on my face when I crossed the line. I am still in shock. This is an incredibly proud moment. Winning a World Tour race, any race in my national colours is great."
Townsend is a two time national championship winner and took the La Roue Tourangelle race in France in 2023. He is best known for his long-distance breakaway moves in many big events, including the world championships, and while these have often been recaptured by the peloton in the finale of those races, Sunday would be different.
"I settled in for a day in the breakaway," he explained. "I focused on the intermediate sprints and the goal was to aim for the penultimate time up the climb and then stay with the [main] group as they caught us. But we kept going."
He and the others in the breakaway pushed hard in the finale but with the peloton inching closer, things were looking tight. His team was urging him on over race radio, keeping him updated.
"I knew the peloton was coming," he said. "I had time checks in my ear every other second and I could feel they were close. When I saw them come I felt a bit more confident than the two other guys I was with to have the jump on them, so I went early.
"I have a good sprint usually, and actually after a long day like this, I am usually quite good with my sprint too. I kicked with 400 meters to go. I went as long as I could out of the saddle and then just got as aero as possible and tried to just hold on to the line."
De Lie, Mangier, Philipsen and the other sprinters launched behind him but he had enough power to hold them off, stunning them and also himself.
"You probably saw my face when I came across the line," he said. "It was just disbelief, really. An amazing feeling."
The result is the first WorldTour victory in the history of his team, and is hugely important as Townsend is in a contract renewal year.
Sunday's result is the latest good news for Irish cycling. Ben Healy won a stage, wore the yellow jersey and finished ninth overall in the Tour de France, Lara Gillespie placed third on a stage of the women's Tour, and young Irish rider Jamie Meehan secured a three and a half year WorldTour contract earlier this month.
The Belfast rider was on a trial with the Cofidis team and stunned the squad by placing third on a stage of the Tour de l'Ain, his debut race in its colours.
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