Durbridge Adds Silver to World Champ Collection

Young WAIS cycling star Luke Durbridge has collected a silver medal in the team pursuit final at the Junior Cycling World Championships in Moscow, Russia over night.

The quartet of individual pursuit World Champion and World Record holder, Michael Hepburn (QLD), road time trial champion Luke Durbridge, Dale Parker (SA) and Peter Loft (TAS) broke the junior world record to qualify fastest for the a gold medal final.

The Australian time of 4min05.352sec pipped the record set earlier in the qualifying round by Russians Konstantin Kuperasov, Victor Manakov, Ivan Savitskiy and Matvey Zubov (4min05.931sec) who had slashed almost two seconds off the record of 4min07.715 set by their Russian predecessors in 2003.

In the final the Russians went out fast and at the halfway mark of the 4km race were almost two seconds up on the Australians. But the Aussies stuck to their race plan and began to peg back the lead. However in the final kilometre things went horribly wrong when a touch of wheels saw Loft hit the deck. Unfortunately he crashed just as Durbridge swung up to finish his turn on the front.

“Because the crowd was so loud I didn’t hear the call that we were down to three riders and I swung back down to take fourth wheel position,” said Durbridge. “That left a big gap and from there – there was no way I was getting back on.”

Their rivals rode on to reclaim the World Record for Russia with a final time of 4min04:646sec.

It was a big shock for the team that had gone into the final with great confidence.

“When we rode the qualifying it was perfect and we didn’t believe it was so fast,” said Durbridge. “We went into the final mentally and physically ready and really confident but that’s cycling – ups and downs.”

The teenagers were obviously disappointed but handled the loss well.

“Lots of kids would love the chance to get a silver medal at the World Championships and we all got on the podium and shook the Russians hands and were proud to get our medals,” he explained. “Everyone on the team has been really supportive and we’re motivated to bounce back.”

Durbridge will team with Alex Carver for tonight’s Madison event.

– Cycling Australia