Irish road race champion, Rory Townsend (Bolton Equities Black Spoke), has taken the biggest win of his career in France. The 27-year-old, who was considering giving up on his pro cycling dream just last year, won the 202km La Roue Tourangelle Centre Val de Loire (1.1) in a sprint from a reduced bunch in France.
He led it out early, after a hard day in the saddle in wet conditions, and had enough speed and power to hold off rapidly emerging Belgian sprinter Gerben Thijssen (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty), who already has two bunch sprint victories this year.
Townsend, who stepped up to ProContinental level for the first time with his new Kiwi team this season, topped a final podium today that also included Pierre Barbier (CIC U Nantes Atlantique) in 3rd place. Arvid de Kleijn (Tudor Pro Cycling Team), who won Milano-Torino the week before last, was 4th with Anthony Perez (Cofidis) in 5th.
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Race winner Townsend revealed his good form today when he was part of a five-rider group to go clear at a climbers' prime with 13.5km to go. His group was the first to mop up the last of the breakaway men. And while that group was caught after a brief 1km effort, Townsend played it cleverly, remaining at the back and simply marking the escape.
While the peloton remained intact for much of the run-in, there were plenty of attacks. At one point, just inside the final 10km, a group of about 25 riders gained a brief gap, with Townsend again sitting in the back, staying in an ideal position.
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In the final 5km, it was Tudor Cycling and Intermarché-Circus-Wanty who took up position on the front in a bid to place their sprinters - Arvid de Kleijn and Gerben Thijssen - in an ideal position. However, Townsend took advantage of that and was 3rd wheel going into the final corner on the technical and wet finishing circuit.
Maikel Zijlaard was Tudor Pro Cycling Team's last lead-out man for Thijssen. However, when he hit front and then pulled over, it was Townsend on his wheel. The Irish rider immediately opened the taps and had the staying power required to hold on all the way to the line for an absolutely fantastic victory.
