Irish international rider Rory Townsend has taken a strong result in Belgium, where he was off the front mixing it with some of the biggest teams in the world yesterday at Heistse Pijl (1.1).
The 26-year-old was among the attackers when the 192km race unexpectedly split. With riders like Fabio Jakobsen (Deceuninck-QuickStep) and Dylan Groenewegen (Jumbo-Visma) in the field it had been expected to come down to a bunch sprint.
Townsend placed 9th on the day and would likely have done even better had he not committed for Canyon dhb SunGod team mate Matt Bostock in the closing stages.
The race was won by Pascal Eenkhoorn (Jumbo Visma), from Yves Lampaert (Deceuninck-QuickStep) and Jonas Rickaert (Alpecin-Fenix) after that trio got clear from the larger breakaway group Townsend was in.
After an initial small breakaway went clear a chasing group of eight riders, containing Townsend's team mate Jakob Scott, went off in pursuit. Townsend then managed to get across to that chasing group.
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When his group caught those ahead, another group came across to them and with about 30km to go the winning three-man move got clear. A chasing group, which included Townsend and Bostock, then formed behind the three leaders.
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With the three top placings mopped up by the men at the front of the race, the group Townsend was in was going for 4th, which was taken by Bert Van Lerberghe (Deceuninck-QuickStep), just 12 seconds behind the winner.
Townsend worked for Bostock in the finale as they believed the sprint was better suited to the British rider, who took 6th with Townsend 9th.
Irish Continental team EvoPro Racing were also riding, with their best finisher, Jeroen Eyskens, placing 25th at 53 seconds. Ireland's Sean Nolan was riding for EvoPro and was among a large number of non-finishers.
The strong performance by Townsend bodes well for the remainder of the season. His upcoming goals include the Tour of Britain, where he secured the sprinters' jersey two years ago.
He has been riding well already this year and in May he placed 3rd in the TT stage and won a road stage at Tour de la Mirabelle (2.2) in France, also picking up victory in the points classification at that race.
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