News | Cyclassics Hamburg | Team • August 17, 2025
António Morgado performs strongly at the Cyclassics ahead of Lidl Deutschland Tour
Young Portuguese rider places seventh at the ADAC Cyclassics, as Rory Townsend takes surprise victory from the day-long breakaway
As UAE Team Emirates-XRG ready up for the Lidl Deutschland Tour, António Morgado produced a battling performance to take seventh place at the ADAC Cyclassics in Hamburg.
The young Portuguese rider claimed the result with a strong sprint from the reduced peloton, as Rory Townsend of Q36.5 Pro Cycling bagged the biggest win of his career in surprise fashion.
The Irish national champion spent the majority of Sunday afternoon in the breakaway, before valiantly holding off the peloton in the closing metres. As his breakaway compatriots fell by the wayside in the final 400m of racing, Townsend launched a last-ditch sprint and did enough to hold off the charging bunch.
As Arnaud De Lie of Lotto led the peloton over the line, the Belgian was forced to settle for second. With Townsend the winner, Morgado finished with a punch to take seventh. It was a result that sees Morgado continue his consistent campaign, with his teammates showing their faces from time to time earlier in the race.
Making his return to racing after the Tour de France, Nils Politt shared the workload with Alessandro Covi at the front of the bunch. Sensing their opportunities to follow attacks over the tough Waseberg climb, both Isaac del Toro and Brandon McNulty nipped off the front of the peloton within the finale.
However, as Alpecin-Deceuninck and Soudal Quick-Step each came to the fore, it became apparent that should the peloton catch the breakaway, a sprint would decide the day’s winner.
As it was, that moment only came as Townsend roared across the line, celebrating an unlikely victory. For UAE Team Emirates-XRG, Sunday’s race proved a good run out ahead of next week’s Lidl Deutschland Tour.
Speaking after the finish, Sports Director Andrej Hauptman gave his thoughts on the day, and looked ahead to the Deutschland Tour.
Andrej Hauptman: “The guys did a good race, following the moves on the climb , but the sprint teams were controlling behind. Antonio did a good sprint, he was up against some pure sprinters so it was complicated.
“We have a very strong group here in Germany. The parcours for next week is a lot of hilly stages without being full mountain days so we expect a lot of aggressive racing each day. We hope to continue the strong run of form the team is on.”
ADAC Cyclassics 2025 Results
1. Rory Townsend (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) 4:24:06
2. Arnaud De Lie (Lotto) s.t
3. Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step) s.t
7. António Morgado (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) s.t
