Rally Cycling’s Will Routley victorious in Portugal

Will Routley of Rally Cycling won the second stage of the GP Liberty Seguros on Sunday. Jumping away in an uphill section with 300 m to go, Routley sprinted to victory ahead of Imanol Estevez Salas (Euskadi Basque Country-Murias) and to a second place finish in the general classification in the two-stage Portuguese race. An early season result is a good sign for the 32 year-old native of Whistler, B.C. who is returning to form after a quiet 2015 campaign.

“I’m really happy to get a win like this in the early season – and finishing second on general classification is an added bonus,” said Routley. “These races in Portugal are really hard. It takes a lot of suffering, and a lot of focus to stay safe and make it into the final stages of the day. Once there, the legs were good. It was nice to show I’m back to my old form.”

Rally Cycling director Eric Wohlberg praised Routley’s and the team’s work. “The team helped keep Will, Pierrick Naud, and Danny Pate well positioned at key crunch points, but it was Will’s tactical sense that made the difference today,” Wohlberg said. “He timed his sprint perfectly and the result is another victory for the team.”

A win in Europe for the U.S. UCI continental team is a welcome result as they prepare for their American racing schedule that kicks off in April. Canadians Pierrick Naud, Adam de Vos, Rob Britton are also in Europe competing with Rally, which races the Volta ao Alentejo in Portugal from March 16 to 20 and the Coppi E Bartali in Italy from March 24 to 27.

In 2014 Routley won stage 4 and took home the king of the mountains jersey at the Amgen Tour of California.