Team Australia at the World Championships 2011
Australian Men have shown an impressive performance at the ongoing World Championships as they have already managed to secure three medals out of the three Men’s events so far.
Australian riders failed to secure the top three positions during the Men’s time trial but never less than two of their riders finished the race in top six. Jack Bobridge and Richie Porte finished the race one after the other with a distance of 16 seconds
between them.
Riders that have won medals for Australia include Luke Durbridge, who has won the Under-23 Men’s time trials event. He finished the 35.2 kilometre race in 42 minutes and 47 seconds with the Danish rider Rasmus Christian finishing 36 seconds behind. Durbridge
secured the first gold medal for his nation as he said, “It’s hard to explain. I'm so happy that I'm struggling to put a sentence together.”
Truly a fine performance by Luke to occupy the top position and the rainbow jersey but he was not the only Australian at the podium. Michael Hepburn was the second Australian who made his way through to the stage as he received the bronze medal. He finished
46 seconds behind his compatriot and qualified for the third position as he finished 13 seconds earlier than Anton Vorobev. Two medals for Australians at the Under-23 Men’s time trials and Damien Howson was another Australian who occupied the ninth position
with his impressive performance.
During the 27.8 kilometre Junior Men’s time trial, David Edwards won the bronze medal for Australia as he finished the race at third position. Mads Wurtz Schmidt took full advantage of home turf and dominated the race securing himself a gold medal with New
Zealand’s rider James Oram winning the silver. Edwards had a lightening start to the race and for a while it seemed that the home crowd might have to wait for their gold medal a little longer.
Edwards was only 6 seconds behind the Danish rider as he crossed the first time check and reduced the lead to 4 seconds in the second time check. Schmidt eventually won the race as he said, "I'm over the moon actually. I came to the Worlds with the expectation
of being extremely happy to finish in the top five." David Edwards won the third medal for Australia as Calvin Watson was the second best Australian rider on the day as he finished the race at 12th position.
The third event was the 46.4 kilometre Elite Men’s time trial and the German rider Tony Martin dominated the race winning the rainbow jersey. None of the Australians qualified for the top position at the podium as Jack Bobridge and Riche Porte finished the
race at fifth and sixth position. Mat White is the Australian Men’s Road Coordinator and he was happy with Bobridge and Porte’s performance.
White told cycling news that, “Jack was exceptional. He came a little bit unstuck towards the finish, but he’s gone out and given himself the best chance of a medal.” He further added that Bobridge has done tremendously well and it is an outstanding result
for a 22-year-old. Matt also mentioned that Porte has raced at the Tour de France and Giro d’ Italia whereas Bobridge was completely out of practice.
With three more events to come, the Australian Men will be looking ahead to return home with as many medals as they can during the Championships. The upcoming Men’s events include Under-23 Men’s road race, Junior Men’s road race and finally the Elite Men’s
road race on the concluding day of the Championship.
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