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Durbridge suffers concussion and broken collarbone in national champs crash

published 7 January 2018

26-year-old out of remainder of Australian calendar

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Luke Durbridge on the stage 3b podium at De Panne (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)

Luke Durbridge’s summer of racing Down Under came to an abrupt end when he crashed out during the men’s road race at the Australian national road race championships. The crash left Durbridge with a minor concussion and a broken right collarbone.

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The 26-year-old’s Mitchelton-Scott team confirmed that he had been ruled out of the remaining races in Australia, which includes the Tour Down Under in just over a week’s time.

Durbridge was trying to cover an attack by EF Education First-Drapac’s Simon Clarke, who was trying to bridge to his teammate Will Clarke at the time, on the penultimate when he hit the deck. His wheel went from under him as he was going around a corner and caused him to crash. He continued to slide across the tarmac before coming to a stop in the gutter at the side of the road.

He was quickly attended to by the team, but it was immediately clear that Durbridge’s race was done with. His crash was a blow for the team but they still came out on top with Alex Edmondson beating Jay McCarthy and Chris Harper to take out the title.

Durbridge is a former time trial and road race national champion and had enjoyed a good week at the national championships. He played a large part in Caleb Ewan’s victory in the criterium on Wednesday before going on to take silver for himself in the time trial behind BMC Racing’s Rohan Dennis on Friday.

It is not yet clear if Durbridge will require surgery on his broken collarbone. If he does, the surgery may have to wait until he has sufficiently recovered from concussion beforehand.

While the injuries will keep Durbridge out of the remainder of the Australian racing calendar, he may still be able to recover in time for the Classics through Mach and April.