Madison Man Durbridge Turns Pain into Gain
WAIS junior cyclist Luke Durbridge continued his incredible campaign at the 2009 UCI Junior World Championships adding a second gold medal to his collection with an excellent performance in tandem with Alex Carver in the men’s Madison.
It was the WAIS young gun’s second gold medal of the week adding to the one he claimed last week in the road time trial and it came a day after he and his pursuit team mates missed out on gold after a crash marred their final ride against Russia.
New South Wales rider Carver also went into the event with added motivation after placing fourth in the scratch race and crashing out of medal contention in the points race earlier in the week.
“We’ve been working for this for a while and after the silver medal ride in the team pursuit we were that extra bit motivated,” said Durbridge. “I went into the Madison feeling pretty relaxed before the start but when I got out there I got in race mode.”
But the pair’s win didn’t come without drama. Carver sprinted into third place on the first of five sprints in the 33km (100 lap) race to put the Australians on the board but one of the Italian riders got in the way of their changeover for the second sprint and they missed the chance of any points.
“Usually on 250m track there are six sprints but there was only five on this track and the missed change meant Alex had to chase to get back in and that hurt us a fair bit,” explained Durbridge who did the endurance work during the race setting Carver up to contest the sprints. “But when we got back on we knew we had to get points so we put it behind us and got on with the job.”
In the third sprint the pair placed second and then won the fourth sprint to put them in a two way tie for the lead with Belgian pair Jochen Deweer and Gijs Van Hoecke. That set up a final sprint showdown.
“It’s an Aussie tradition to leave it to the last sprint,” laughed Carver. “We led it out for three or four laps and I knew as soon as we beat the Belgians across the line I knew that we had the win.
“I always wanted to get a rainbow jersey and I was just so over the moon and haven’t celebrated that hard ever.”
The pair finished on twelve points, one ahead of Belgium with Denmark third on eight points.
The result caps off an outstanding tournament for the three WAIS riders with Durbridge, Melissa Hoskins and Michaela Anderson all coming away from Moscow with Junior World Championship gold.
Cycling Australia National Technical Manager, Kevin Tabotta, says he is extremely proud of the team and their performance in Moscow.
“We came into this Championships knowing we had a really strong team based on the times we’d seen at Nationals and at the lead up camps,” said Tabotta. “The work being done at State Institute level has really been the strength of the Australian cycling system and has allowed the kids to come together for five or six weeks already highly prepared and highly skilled.
“A culture of performance has been built up in the junior program over the past ten years with a core group of staff and management so these athletes came here expecting to do well because of the history the team has at this level,” explained Tabotta. “They came with a professional attitude and to do their best and I think Cycling Australia is right on the money in terms of the way we deal with the junior development process.
Luke Durbridge also received special mention as the first Australian male rider to win a World Championship gold medal in both track and road competition in the same year.
Durbridge follows in the footsteps of fellow WAIS athlete and senior World Champion cyclist Josie Tomic, who was the first Australian to achieve the feat after she claimed three Junior World Championship gold medals (Time Trial, Individual Pursuit and Points Race) in Mexico in 2007.
He won the road time trial ten days ago and then headed to the track where he collected gold in the Madison with Alex Carver and silver in the team pursuit.
“Durbridge’s win on the road was fabulous especially as he did it on a full track preparation and hadn’t done a solid road race since May,” said Tabotta.
– with Cycling Australia