Durbridge Selected for Road World Champs in Yorkshire

Reigning national road time-trial champion Luke Durbridge
has been selected for the Australian team that will contest the 2019 UCI Road
World Championships in Yorkshire in late September.

 

The 28 year-old who recently completed a highly
successful Tour de France campaign with pro-team Mitchelton-Scott has been
included in an eight-strong men’s section for a worlds campaign that is set to
test riders’ limits.

 

The men’s road race has been scheduled for 285 gruelling
kilometres around a course that Australia’s road technical director Brad McGee
has predicted will challenge the world’s best and provide an interesting
spectacle.

 

“These World Championships will be unique, not like what
we have seen in the past,” he said.

 

“There are a lot of unknowns, and I expect these races to
be very open and very dynamic.

“Our athletes will need to be very adaptable, well-aligned strategically and
technically, with endurance set to be a big factor.

 

Typically, Durbridge has provided the grunt work in
support of a team leader for the Australian squads at world championship level,
and it is likely that his services will again be pointed towards this vital
role. The Australian team set-up have tentatively earmarked Michael Matthews
and Simon Clarke as likely team leaders in 2019.

 

“Matthews and Simon Clarke have proven themselves in
one-day races across similar terrain,” McGee surmised.

 

Cycling Australia Performance Director, Simon Jones added:
“The courses this year in Yorkshire will be tough and we believe we have picked
teams that give us options and the best chance over this terrain and length.”

 

MEN

• Simon
  Clarke (EF Education First)

• Rohan
  Dennis (Bahrain Merida)

• Mitchell Docker
  (EF Education First)

• Luke
  Durbridge (Mitchelton-Scott)

• Nathan Haas
  (Team Katusha Alpecin)

• Jack
  Haig (Mitchelton-Scott)

• Michael
  Matthews (Team Sunweb)

• Rory Sutherland
  (UAE-Team Emirates)