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Rory Townsend Delivers Historic WorldTour Victory at ADAC Cyclassics
Sometimes you have to dream big, ride on and don’t look back, even against all odds. That’s what Rory Townsend did today in the ADAC Cyclassics in Hamburg. In a stacked field of world class sprinters the Irish champion won the race from the early breakaway, something that never happens in this sprinter’s classic. It’s the first UCI World Tour win for the Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team since the team started in 2023, and the 14th victory of the season.
17 August 2025
When asked after the finish in the flash interview whether he expected to win a World Tour race, Rory still was in shock and disbelief.
“No,” he said. “I can honestly say I did not. Jannik [Steimle] and I noticed there was a lot of interest in the early breakaway and we both kept an eye on the attacks. There was potential for a big group but in the end there were only four of us.”
Rory, Dries De Pooter, Johan Jacobs and Nelson Oliveira proved to be a particularly strong foursome and the gap went out to five minutes. Despite attacks on the penultimate lap, the gap remained stable and even went up again. The four riders kept sharing the workload evenly, even on the steep Waseberg which featured five times in the 207-kilometer-long race; twice in the final 30 kilometers.
"To win any race in the Irish champion’s jersey is special. But a WorldTour race? That’s something I’ve dreamed of..."
“I settled in for a day in the breakaway,” Rory said. “I focused on the intermediate sprints and the goal was to aim for the penultimate time up the climb and then stay with the [first] group as they caught us. But we kept going.”
The Waseberg is always a decisive factor in this race that normally always ends in a bunch sprint, or a reduced group sprint. The race in 2000, when our Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team’s sports director Gabriele Missaglia won in a sprint à deux with Francesco Casagrande, was one of the last times it didn’t end in a sprint. Winning from the breakaway like Rory did today, never happened this century which makes it all the sweeter.
“I felt the peloton coming,” Rory says on the tense moments in the final 10 kilometers when the gap had dropped to 20 seconds. “I had time checks from the team car almost every second so I knew they were very close. When I saw where they were [in the final kilometer] I started to feel a little bit more confident because I knew I had the jump over the other two riders. I usually have a good sprint, especially after a hard day. I then just sprinted out of the saddle as long as I could and be as aero as I could for the rest.”
The win in Hamburg following in the footsteps of Missa, and many other great names in cycling, is the biggest win of Rory’s career to date. It’s the first Word Tour win for the team as well.
“It’s crazy,” he said. “It’s just pure disbelief as you could see on my face when I crossed the line. I am still in shock. This is an incredibly proud moment. Winning a World Tour race, any race in my national colours is great. This is the cycling that inspired me in riders like Steve Cummings. Doing this myself now is just amazing.”
What’s Next
As we build towards our debut La Vuelta a España, Rory’s victory is more than just a result. It’s a statement: Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team belongs on the sport’s biggest stage. And now, we’re WorldTour winners.
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