By Shane Stokes
Rory Townsend has confirmed he is continuing in international cycling after previously suggesting he could step back in 2022 and in an interview with stickybottle he has discussed the interest he has had from two WorldTour teams.
The 26-year-old Irishman had said in October that he was at a crossroads in his career, and that he would not continue with his Canyon dhb SunGod team if he was unable to secure a WorldTour contract.
“It’s not an option for me anymore, unfortunately,” he said then. “It’s basically a financial thing. I simply can’t afford to carry on the way I’m going. So yeah, I’m just at a time now where it’s sort of bang or bust… But it’s a hard sell at the moment – there a lot of riders, not a lot of teams.”
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Two months on, he said that he had high-level discussions with two WorldTour squads.
“They both care about fairly late. Both were really interested, I was getting pretty good vibes. But history had kind of taught me not to be like too confident about anything. In 2019 I seem to have loads of offers and really nothing came to fruition. So this time around I was a little bit more grounded about it all.”
Townsend elaborated on the details and while he didn’t name the teams in question, their nationalities narrow the list of possibilities down.
“The first was an American team. I went through the interview processes with them. They were looking for someone that could go to the second race of a calendar and be that kind of sprinter.
“I was down to the final two in that, but in the end actually neither of us got it. They had a rider who used to ride for them and who got dropped off his [current] team. He was an American and they just kind of went with what they knew. It was obviously frustrating, but I couldn’t really complain too much.
“The other one was a Belgian World Tour team. That really came out of blue. I was going out to dinner one night, seeing some old friends, and got a call literally before I went into the restaurant. And they was asking if I had anything sorted, if I was still available, which I was.
“So we sort of went through the process with that. I was chatting with them for like a good couple of weeks, mulling over things, and I was down to their final three as well. They wanted like a one day sort of Classics-style rider and in the end, they went with a Belgian. It was kind of a similar story.”
EF Education-Nippo and Trek-Segafredo are the peloton’s two American WorldTour squads, while Lotto Soudal, Deceuninck-QuickStep and Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert are the three Belgian WorldTour teams.
Despite the near miss plus his previous declaration that he would reduce his commitment to the sport, Townsend has revealed that he has decided to line out with his current team again next season.
“I have agreed to stay with Canyon dbh SunGod,” he said. “Tim (Elverson, team manager) is still saying to me if anything comes up, that he will honour it and let me go. That is nice to have, but as it stands I can’t really see anything coming up (in time for 2022 – ed).
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"But thankfully the team is in a pretty good place going to next year, better than it has been. So that’s nice. There’s a load of new sponsors and so, in a weird way, it will be a bit of a fresh start, to some extent.”
I do it because I love competing
Townsend has raced with the Canyon dhb SunGod squad for the past four years and amassed a number of impressive results. In September he clocked up placings of fifth, sixth and sixth on stages of the Tour of Britain and was also third in the mountains classification. These added to his stage win plus victory in the points classification in the Tour de la Mirabelle in May.
Two years previously, he took third in two 1.1-ranked races, the Classic Loire Atlantique and Heylen Vastgoed Heistse Pijl, as well as second in the 1.2 Memorial Philippe Van Coningsloo plus fourth in the Irish road race championships.
Asked if he found the ultimately unsuccessful talks with WorldTour teams very frustrating, he took a philosophical approach.
“It is just one of those things, unfortunately. I think age isn’t really in my favour, which might sound weird," he says.
Townsend continues: "But I’m not considered young anymore. Like, I’m not like Ben (Healy), Ben is sort of like a real up and comer. The sport is getting younger, they are just picking kids out of their teens to go to WorldTour teams. So it is difficult.
"The only thing I can set myself apart with is results. But with Covid and everything, and then a bit of a lack of consistency this year from injuries and stuff, I just haven’t really done enough to, I suppose, break the barrier.
“I have been talking a lot about it with my parents and stuff, and obviously they were gutted for me. I just that it’s one of these things. There’s a load of guys in my situation who, given a shot, are good enough, and would probably do very well.
"And I believe if I was at WorldTour I would perform really well, and be a better rider than I am right now. But I’m not good enough right now to break through that barrier. It is just a case of getting a little bit more consistency of races to get into it.”
Townsend is taking a slightly different approach to the season, having returned to his previous studies in university to complete his undergraduate course. He is studying Sports and Exercise Science in St. Mary’s in Twickenham and believes it has been a good attention diversion.
“I’m just finishing off a few things from that original course,” he explained. “I’ve gone back there after nearly three years away. It’s been a while, but it just seemed like a sensible thing to do. And to be fair, like, with everything that was going on with teams and conversations and things, it was actually pretty good having something that was like a bit of a distraction.
“It sort of kept my mind occupied rather than just sort of sitting in and twiddling my thumbs. It also keeps you a little bit more grounded knowing that it doesn’t have to all start and end with cycling. It’s been refreshing in a way.
"And I found it a lot more manageable than I was anticipating. I think being a bit older and having a bit more understanding of the world has put me in a better situation. To be able to tackle it a little bit more tactically, I suppose.”
The course will mean that he will winter in Britain rather than being able to go abroad and train in Spain, but he should be finished his studies by April. This will give him plenty of time to chase the bigger contract he wants.
“The thing is, I never thought coming through that I would be in the situation to be this close, you know?” he said. “I ultimately do it because I love being competitive. I don’t mind if that is whacking it around a local circuit race or riding the worlds. I genuinely do get a buzz off both of them.”
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