Tim Elverson has toasted a job well done at the Memorial Philippe van Coningsloo in Belgium on Sunday.
The sports director lauded the efforts of 22-year-old Harry Tanfield, who showed strength and maturity to grab ninth place in the UCI 1.2 contest.
But the squad were still left to wonder what might have been after Spring Cup champion Rory Townsend crashed out of the winning breakaway, which also contained Matt Nowell.
Elverson reckons his troops may have been celebrating much more than an eighth top-10 finish on the Europe Tour. He said:
“We wanted a top 10 as a minimum and we got that, so it was a good trip. It was a phenomenal ride by Harry.
“He was putting out some big numbers. He got a little trapped in the sprint and had it opened up for him, he would have got a lot higher.
“But as it was, it was a solid ride by everyone. All the lads represented well in the early stages when we were all over the race, which was nice.
“A few moves came away and we were always there. Obviously, when the break went and it contained Rory and Matt, I felt really confident.
“It was a good move for us. Rory was one of the quickest guys in that group, so there was that opportunity.
“The finish really suited Rory and we were riding for him. So that was brilliant. But then he crashed and that changed things a bit.”
Outnumbered by the likes of Lotto Soudal and BMC, Nowell was forced to burn too many matches in the latter stages and lost contact with the break in the finale.
Tanfield was already on the move, though, and shortly after his team-mate had been dropped, the Yorkshireman made contact.
He had been the powerhouse of a chasing group, which the returning Joe Fry had narrowly failed to tag on to. Elverson added:
“We always thought something would come across from the back in the closing stages and that is exactly what happened.
“I was surprised it took as long as it did to get over there. Harry was in it and ended up bridging solo with 3km to go.
“It would have been nice to have had a second one there and Joe only just missed out. He was on his own in the gap for a little while.
“As it was, Harry was attacking out of that chase group loads. You could tell he was a lot stronger than the lads around him and still had the legs to finish ninth.
“So had it gone to plan and he was there leading Rory out, who knows? We might have got a really, really good result.”
Nowell, 20, crossed the line in 37th place in the end, 2min 48sec adrift of the winner after suffering from cramp.
Fry, Sam Lowe and Jake Womersley all finished in the peloton. Click here for our blow-by-blow race report or follow this link for the full result.
