Double gold to Australian cyclists at world road championships

Australian Institute of Sport cyclist Luke Durbridge with his bike

Luke Durbridge wins gold in the under-23 men’s time trial at the world road championships.

27 Sep 2011

The Australian cycling team has collected two gold, one silver and two bronze medals with a stellar performance at the 2011 UCI Road World Championships raced from 21 to 25 September in Denmark.

The Cyclones team got off to a flying start on the first day of competition when Jessica Allen won the junior women’s time trial, in a time of 19 minutes 18.63 seconds.

A few hours later, Luke Durbridge cruised to victory in the under-23 men’s time trial, recording a time of 42 minutes 47.13 seconds. His team-mate Michael Hepburn finished in third place despite crashing during his ride.

‘My main goal all year has been to come here and win,’ said 20-year-old Durbridge. ‘I concentrated purely on this time trial to make sure I came here with the best form and it's a fantastic feeling.

'Watching Jess (Allen) win was inspiring and made me even more determined to go and get my own rainbow jersey,' Durbridge said.

'When I knew I was up on the time checks I just continued to bring it home (but) the last lap I was taking it a little bit safe on the corners just to make sure I got home.'

A day later, David Edwards claimed bronze in the junior men’s time trial, posting a time of 35 minutes 28.47 seconds.

Tasmanian Matthew Goss capped off the week with a silver medal in Sunday’s elite men’s road race.

The 24 year old was a mere three hundredths of a second off a gold medal with Great Britain's Mark Cavendish shading him on the line at the end of the 266km race.

Germany's Andre Greipel, was third in a photo finish over Switzerland's Fabian Cancellara.

It’s the third straight year Australia has placed on the podium in the elite men's event with Cadel Evans winning in 2009 and Allan Davis coming third last year in Geelong. It’s also the third straight year the under 23 men have been on the podium with Jack Bobridge winning the time trial in 2009 and Durbridge second last year.

‘I don't like being the bridesmaid! I would much rather be wearing that jersey there, said Goss pointing to the world champion's jersey worn by Cavendish, who is his team mate at HTC-Highroad.

‘I am disappointed I am not wearing that jersey (but) I am happy I have finished the season well.

‘I have another 10 or 12 world championships in me. This course suited me quite well but I can also get around a slightly harder course as well and sprint from a smaller group so I am going to have more chances.

‘The team did everything for me. Big hats off to those guys, I wasn't far away from finishing off the job.’

In other strong results, Jack Bobridge and Richie Porte have secured a second starting place for Australia in the men’s time trial event at the London 2012 Olympic Games. Bobridge and Porte finished fifth and sixth respectively of the men’s time trial event. Also Shara Gillow’s twelfth place in the women’s time trial ensures Australia will line up in that event in London as well.

The AIS works in partnership with Cycling Australia to deliver the high-performance AIS Track Cycling program. The program is based in Adelaide and supports the training and development of the nation’s best road cyclists by providing access to leading coaching and sports science expertise, and world-class training facilities.

The Australian Government provides almost $8.5 million in annual funding to cycling in Australia.

More than $5.4 million is targeted towards High Performance sport, while cycling also receives $365,000 as part of the Green and Gold Project, to give its athletes the best chance to achieve sustained international success.