Luke Durbridge extends with Team Orica-GreenEdge through 2014
Luke Durbridge has extended his stay with Team Orica-GreenEdge for one more year after joining the team as a neo pro in 2012.
The former under world time trial champion will now be seen in the Australian team’s colours through the end of 2014 season.
The cyclist joined Team Jayco-Skins as his first professional squad back in 2010 and stayed with the side by the end of 2011 season.
He accepted an offer from Team Orica-GreenEdge in 2012 and helped the team with several top performances in the first half of the season.
"I’ve really enjoyed the environment on the team and I appreciate the genuine interest in my development," said Durbridge.
"GreenEdge offered the extension, and it made a lot of sense to sign. I get security and the ability to concentrate on more good years with the team".
The cyclist bagged as many as seven victories including overall wins at the Tour du Poitou-Charentes and the Circuit de la Sarthe 2012 along with a stage each and the young rider classifications victory at both the races.
He finished ahead of the Tour de France 2012 winner, Bradley Wiggins at the Criterium du Dauphine prologue after his storming performance at the race.
“Winning the Dauphiné prologue was a personal highlight for me. I was pretty happy with that win because of the caliber of riders that were there,” he voiced.
“I took a lot of pride in wearing the green and the gold all year during my first professional season," Durbridge cited of his first season with Team Orica-GreenEdge.
He won the 2012 National Time Trial Championships, finished first at the Duo Normand with Svein Tuft, third at the Men’s Team Time Trial UCI Road World Championships and occupied the fifth overall position at the Eneco Tour 2012.
Durbridge was given a perfect schedule by the team management which helped him picking up the specific races, ideally suited to his abilities and produced better results.
Time trialling is his major strength and most of the victories he claimed this year include the time trialling stages whether it was the National Time Trial Championships or the Individual Time Trial stages at the Circuit de la Sarthe, Tour du Poitou-Charentes
or the Men’s Time Trial at the UCI Road World Championships.
The 21-year-old was happy with the schedule given to him by the team and thanked his team manager for showing faith in him which ultimately helped both the parties.
Durbridge has already started planning for the 2013 season, where he hopes to race at almost the similar races with an addition of a marking a Grand Tour victory.
The 21-year-old expects to ride the Giro d’Italia 2013 and will target the stage victories at the three-week race next year.
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