Rory Townsend (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) took a stunning victory yesterday at German one-day World Tour race, ADAC Cyclassics, spending 187km of the 207km event in the breakaway of four, eventually reduced to three. And though his two remaining breakaway companions wilted in the final 500m, Townsend still had a powerful finish left.
The Irish road race champion sprinted to the line to just about hold off the reduced peloton, with Arnaud De Lie (Lotto) and Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step) 2nd and 3rd on the same time as Townsend. Others in the top 10 included 4th placed Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) in 8th and Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike) 10th.
"What just happened?" a stunned Townsend said to his team mates after the finish, initially overwhelmed and sinking to his knees as he tried to absorb what he had done. "I launched (my sprint) and I did 100 metres full gas, and then it was in the tuckie."
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He insisted that he never thought he would win, saying it felt "incredible" to pull off such a big victory; the first World Tour win of his career and for his team.
“No, I can honestly say I did not," he said of anticipating he would win. "Jannik (Steimle) and I noticed there was a lot of interest in the early breakaway and we both kept an eye on the attacks. There was potential for a big group but in the end there were only four of us.
“I settled in for a day in the breakaway. I focused on the intermediate sprints and the goal was to aim for the penultimate time up the climb and then stay with the (first) group as they caught us. But we kept going.”
Townsend got away in the breakaway with Dries De Pooter (Intermarché-Wanty), Johan Jacobs (Groupama-FDJ) and Nelson Oliveira (Movistar), building their lead to almost five minutes.
They still had an advantage of three minutes after they had completed three laps of the mid-race circuit, featuring the Waseberg climb, with 60km to go. That climb was revisited twice more in the final 30km of the race, where De Pooter was dropped from the breakaway leaving just three up front.
Though the breakaway’s lead was just over 40 seconds with 15km to go, there had been attacks in the bunch on the final two passages on the climb. That trimmed the group right back but also interrupted its pursuit of the three leaders.
When the breakaway men reached the final kilometre, they had just 10 seconds, with the charging bunch in with a very good chance of making the catch. However, as the peloton closed right in, Oliveira and Jacobs were finished and got swallowed up.
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RORY TOWNSEND HOLDS ON ?
A sensational ride from Townsend to take the biggest win of his career from the early breakaway at Cyclassics Hamburg. pic.twitter.com/Bl3bJUTYAY
— Cycling on TNT Sports (@cyclingontnt) August 17, 2025
But Townsend still had plenty left; opening a sprint a long way out as his two breakaway companions went backwards. The Irish champion took a remarkable win; Townsend’s first victory in a World Tour race and also his team’s first win at that level.
“I felt the peloton coming,” he said of the final 10km, when it felt like one big attack from the peloton might close the gap, though the sprinters' teams had been chasing for a long time and just couldn't seem to bring the leaders back.
Some of those sprinters - including Jonathan Milan (Lidl Trek) and Sam Bennett (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) - were dropped on the climbs. And with some of those fast men gone from the front group, and the big teams weakened by losing other riders, the chase was not what it might have been.
“I had time checks from the team car almost every second so I knew they were very close," said Townsend of the nailbiting final. "When I saw where they were (in the final kilometre) I started to feel a little bit more confident because I knew I had the jump over the other two riders.
"I usually have a good sprint, especially after a hard day. I kicked with 400 metres to go and went as long as I could out of the saddle, and then I just tried to get as aero as possible to hold on until the line, and it was just this – you probably saw when I came across the line – it was disbelief really, an amazing feeling.
"It's crazy, for sure, a WorldTour race is never something I thought I would do, and just to win a race and to do it wearing the national colours is an incredibly proud moment for me. I think I'm just going to shut up, to be honest, days like this are just really special.
"This is what inspired me about cycling, watching guys like Steve Cummings do things like this – I love watching stuff like this, so to be actually doing it is incredible."
