After telling stickybottle he really enjoyed leading the World Championships in Glasgow - during a 160km breakaway - but adding he was disappointed to be on a bad day, Rory Townsend is now firmly back on track after a great ride in Belgium today.
He did not get to fight for victory on the line after Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Dstny) and Rasmus Tiller (Uno-X Pro Cycling Team) slipped away from the front group to battle it out -Tiller's foot coming out of the pedal twice in the final sprint, video below.
However, Townsend was just behind them, after proving one of the strongest on the constantly undulating 185.6km course at Druivenkoers-Overijse (1.1), riding against World Tour teams on a very attritional day with 27 short and sharp climbs sapping the legs.
The 28-year-old Irishman ended the race in 5th place - one of his best results of the season considering the level, though he did take a great victory in France earlier in the year. Townsend finished in the small group, comprised of five riders, just six seconds behind winner Campenaerts and runner-up Tiller.
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About 90km into today's race - as the riders moved from the first circuit after three laps, for four passages of a second circuit - a breakaway of nine riders went clear. Once they had established a gap, Townsend showed his form in jumping across. That front group eventually swelled to 23 riders, with very little cooperation but plenty of attacks from it.
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That aggression up front saw the group split, with nine riders forming at the head of the race. Lotto Dstny had two riders in that front group in the final; Jasper De Buyst and eventual winner Campenaerts. That enabled them to play the numbers game, with Campenaerts getting clear with Tiller before De Buyst won the sprint for 3rd six seconds back.
Jenthe Biermans (Team Arkéa Samsic) was 4th, with Townsend next and then Pier-André Coté (Human Powered Health) in 6th. Lionel Taminiaux (Alpecin-Deceuninck) was 7th, the last man of the five-rider group just behind the duo going for the win.
Dries De Bondt (Alpecin-Deceuninck) finished 8th, some 14 seconds down on the winner and two seconds up on his team mate, Timo Kielich, who led in an 11-man group for 9th.
