Luke Durbridge wins U-23 Men’s time trial race in UCI World Championships 2011 – Cycling Update
Pre-race favourite Luke Durbridge of Australia showed his brilliant skills and took the title of Under-23 Men’s time trial World Championship 2011 on Monday, September 19. The race started and ended in Copenhagen.
The 20-year-old Australian cyclists took a total of 42 minutes and 47 seconds to cover the distance of 35.2 kilometres. Rasmus Christian Quaade (Denmark) was runner-up with 36 seconds down to Australian.
Durbridge said, "Congratulations to Quaade and Hepburn. It's fantastic to have two Australians on the podium. We planned this out for the last six months and for it to come together is the tricky part. I had good form and knew could do it but everything
had to go right."
The stage was a little difficult for the cyclists as the route had some unexpected technical hitches and the entire course was not blocked off. Damien Howson was the first cyclists who showed a good effort and went off but he grabbed the ninth spot with
a difference of 2 minutes and 6 seconds.
Michael Hepburn worked hard in the final kilometres and increased his pace but he slipped away and set the clock with a difference of 46 seconds ahead of Vorobev. Quaade was riding fast but failed to maintain his pace and secured runner-up spot in the final
check point.
In the final kilometres, Durbridge took part with the other five cyclists and the Australian launched an attack as he was able to cross the finish line ahead of the other cyclists.
Recently, he took the fifth stage of Royal Smilde Olympia’s Tour and also grabbed the first spot in Point race cycling Australia Track National Championships.
Durbridge was very happy with his performance and said, “I had little bit of blurred vision because I started fast. But the course suited me and it was just about grinding it out on the flat. In the last 10km, I started to enjoy it. I knew I was up and only
had to stay up and bring it home."
Tom Dumoulin (Netherlands), Damien Howson (Australia) and Molard (France) were in eight, ninth and tenth place respectively.
The next Junior Men’s time trial Championship will start in Copenhagen as all the cyclists will cover the distance of 27.8 kilometres.
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