Luke Durbridge (Jayco/AIS) powers towards the gold medal in the men's under 23 national time trial championship in Learmonth near Ballarat.(Image credit: Shane Goss)
Luke Durbridge (Uni SA) leads his team mates around a bend.(Image credit: Mark Gunter)
Luke Durbridge (Jayco-AIS) has sent an early warning to his U/23 road world championships rivals, putting in a dominant ride at the Chrono Champenois in France overnight to take victory in a course record time.
The 20-year-old Australian, who finished second in the time trial at last year's worlds in Melbourne has come leaps and bounds in the last 12 months, and looks to be a strong favourite for the race in Copenhagen.
Durbridge clocked a time of 40:16 at an average speed of almost 50 km/h for the 33.4 kilometre distance. Impressively, he was also 51 seconds faster than 2010 winner Rasmus Christian, who placed second. The result builds on last week's ride in the Memorial Davide Fardelli, where he finished third.
"Luke set a course record and he did it on wet roads," said Cycling Australia's U23 Coach, James Victor. "The previous best time was set in 2008 and Luke went 1:10 under that."
The UCI Road World Championships begin on the 19th September, with the U23 Men's Time Trial the second event on the program. The Australian U23 team is expected to be announced on the 14th of September.
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