When Rory Townsend, 30, never before a winner of a WorldTour race, never even part of a WorldTour squad, won the ADAC Cyclassics (formerly known as the Hamburg Classic) last weekend, there was a reason why he was gobsmacked and in utter disbelief, his hands on his head. And it wasn’t just limited to how he did it, impossibly denying A-list sprinters to win from the breakaway by a bike length. It was because his backstory never suggested that it would lead to this moment, a winner of a top-level race, the first Q36.5 rider to win a WorldTour event, before even Tom Pidcock had done so for the Swiss team.
Townsend, in retrospect harsh on himself, describes himself as forever having imposter syndrome, not quite believing he was good enough. Twelve years of racing, more than a decade of ploughing away at low-level races “where there’s only one man and his dog”, attests to that. “I never thought I’d be riding here, with the journey I've had, and never anticipated such a situation,” he tells Rouleur in the days after his biggest ever victory. But now he can finally believe he does belong. “Now it’s adjusting that mindset to not looking up to other riders, but going toe to toe with them,” he smiles.
To rewind the clock, Townsend started racing aged 11. He was competitive enough, but "I wasn't particularly good,” he says. In his second year as a junior, he contracted Epstein-Barr virus and suffered from chronic fatigue. “I couldn’t race so I went travelling and in a weird way it was a real gift to me,” he reflects. “You see all these buzzwords and Instagram psychology shit of not comparing yourself to anyone else and just focusing on yourself, and I was almost given that lesson because of illness. There was no point looking at anyone else, as long as I got better than the week before. It forged that inner motivation within me. I didn't know where I was going or what I was even doing with cycling, but I just knew I wanted to be as good as I possibly could be, to find out what I was capable of; it was a journey of self discovery rather than a journey of trying to achieve any external success.”
And so set in nine years of operating in the third-tier, representing various guises of the British team first known as Pedal Heaven in 2014 and eventually as WiV SunGod in 2022. “Pedal Heaven really took a punt on me but I got sick while riding for them,” he says. “They could have got rid of me but they kept me on. If they hadn’t, I'd have finished there and then. Tim Elverson [the team’s manager] is really like my cycling dad – all my success I owe to him.”
Townsend, back in his Canyon DHB p/b Bloor Homes days, celebrating another domestic win with his sports director and mentor Tim Elverson. Photo by Alex Whitehead/SWPix.com.
Elverson’s faith soon began to be rewarded. “My development has never been fast, but I had a really good year in 2017,” Townsend continues. “I thought I might move on but didn’t, and then in 2018 I broke my wrist and collarbone and my collarbone kept getting infected. I gave it one last shot in 2019 and had an amazing year.” He repeatedly won big races in the UK and also abroad. Again, he thought it might prompt pro teams to sign him up, but it didn't. “I had lots of promising conversations, but it came to nothing,” he rues. 2020 was meant to be his next shot, but Covid hit and halted all races. “So I went back to university. I’d already taken three years leave of absence, and so if I wanted to finish my degree I had to do so in 2021-22. It was bang or bust.”
But Townsend wasn’t packing in his cycling career – he returned to studying alongside his racing and training. And in the summer of 2022, in three weeks to be precise, everything changed. “I was at the Ras in Ireland [a five-stage stage race, in which he won a stage], writing 500 words after every stage for my dissertation on the effects of sleep on endurance performance. And then I upped that to 800 words before the National Championships. I handed in my dissertation on the Friday" – achieving a 2:1 – "and on the Sunday won the Nationals.” Aged 27, two days after completing university, he was Irish champion. That success was to prove the final knock necessary to push the door down towards getting a pro contract.
Bolton Equities Black Spoke, boasting a strong European calendar, subsequently called, offering him a place for the 2023 season, and having impressed, he secured a ride with Q36.5 for 2024 and 2025. In his time with Doug Ryder’s team, Townsend’s become synonymous for featuring in breakaways, including at the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. “I often feel like there’s a misconception or preconception of why guys go in the break, such as for TV time, etc,” he says. “But with me, I only go in with the mindset of being able to get a result. I’ve also got the knack of it – if I want to be in the break, 90% of the time I will get in it. I think that comes from racing in the UK, the format of the race which is high threshold all day, and then still having quite good legs come the end.” That’s exactly what panned out in Hamburg: he was at the front all day, and still had a kick to win in the finale.
Seen here in 2023, Townsend has been one of Ireland's most attacking and representative figures this decade. He is a two-time national champion. Photo by Alex Whitehead/SWPix.com.
“The funny thing is, I was a late call-up to the race, replacing a teammate who had Covid,” he reveals. “I’ve been struggling since coming back from altitude, not been at my best, and I really don’t want to be there. I was stinking the bus out with my mood at the start and wasn’t in the right place mentally. I thought I’d have a look at the break, and realised I could maybe do something from there, but still with the idea of helping Fabio [Christen, his teammate] out at the finish. I took the intermediate sprints, sweet, I thought, I’ve got something out of the day, and as the day went on I realised I felt strong and I had good legs. When I saw the opportunity at the finish, I hit it early and held them all off.”
The emotion was one of bewilderment and pride. “You saw it when I crossed the line, I was in total disbelief. I actually thought for a moment there was one final lap to go and I had messed it up! Things like this don’t happen to guys like me, it’s honestly how I felt. ”
But he hadn’t: Rory Townsend, he who could have quit so many times before when he was earning peanuts in pursuit of his dream, had just won a WorldTour race ahead of Jasper Philipsen, Wout van Aert and Biniam Girmay, among others. His imposter syndrome is no longer justified – and he’s slowly releasing it. “I look at myself and feel like on my best days I can be in the mix in the smaller races, and in the bigger one be competitive with the top guys. Honestly, I’ve never cared what race I was doing, I’ve just wanted to win. It doesn't matter if it’s Hillingdon on a Tuesday night night or the Hamburg Classic – I’m just buzzing to be winning a race, World Tour or not.”
Townsend’s just turned 30, is in the supposed speaking years of his career, but believes he’s only just getting started. “The miles on the clock is a bigger thing than your age,” he says. “You see Pogačar saying he’s close to burnout and I’m not surprised – a lot of these guys got into the sport early and it’s not sustainable working at that level for so long. But I've not had that intense focus for that long, and feel as long as I am getting better and the motivation and hunger is there, there’s still more to come from me.”
