Rory Townsend has put in a strong showing at Volta Limburg Classic in the Netherlands, proving one of the strongest in the bunch gallop on the cobbled climb to the finish line.
The 195km race, with no fewer than 38 climbs, saw the winning breakaway of six go clear with just 19km remaining. And once they managed to detach themselves from the peloton, on a wet day of hard racing, they opened a decisive advantage on the remains of the peloton.
In that move were: Tom Dumoulin (Jumbo Visma), Arnaud De Lie (Lotto Soudal), Loïc Vliegen (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matérieaux), Kamiel Bonneu (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise), Stefano Oldani (Alpecin-Fenix) and Kamiel Bonneu (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise).
Belgian rider De Lie, who just turned 20-years-old two weeks ago, drove it in into the last corner in the breakaway and went early in the sprint to win comfortably from Oldani and Vliegen.
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This season is race winner De Lie's first as a World Tour rider and today's victory was his third of the campaign. He has already won Trofeo Playa de Palma-Palma back in January and also claimed Grote Prijs Jean-Pierre Monseré (1.1) last month.
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After De Lie had claimed victory today, one minute elapsed before the peloton sprinted up the finishing incline, with Ireland's Townsend to the fore in that group; the WiV SunGod rider placing 12th on the day. The bunch sprint for 7th place was won by Dries De Bondt (Alpecin-Fenix), with Philippe Gilbert (Lotto Soudal) also in the mix and placing 10th.
That was a very solid performance from Townsend, especially as the 26-year-old just a few months ago was considering taking a step back in his cycling career. This year he is also mixing university with his racing and is clearly showing he can manage both and still compete at a high level.
The only other Irish riders in the race were Townsend's team mate Matt Teggart and Connor Lambert (XSpeed United Continental), both of whom were among a large number of non-finishers. There were just 42 finishers today from 160 starters. Ireland's Archie Ryan was down to make his debut for the Jumbo Visma World Tour team today but a bout of Covid-19 meant he could not start.
