Luke Durbridge on his way to winning at the Gold Coast Festival of Cycling. Source: News Limited
AS ALL road cyclists know all too well, the time trial _ the race of truth, they call it _ hurts. A lot. Which is one of the reasons Luke Durbridge likes it so much.
"It's just you out there against the clock and it's a suffer-fest all the way to the line. That's what I've always been good at," he said yesterday.
Durbridge, 22, confirmed his status as one of Australia's most talented and versatile young road cyclists when he became the first to win both the road race and the time trial in the same year at the national championships in Buninyong last year.
Speaking at the launch of this year's titles, which will run from January 8 to 12, Durbridge said the time trial would be his priority.
That is unusual in that among riders and fans alike the road race has a much higher profile, although the time trial has attracted plenty of attention in Australia recently.
Most remember Cadel Evans clinching his historic Tour de France win in 2011 with a superb ride against the clock in the second last stage, and last year Orica-GreenEDGE won the team time trial at the Tour and then _ with Durbridge joining the squad _ failed by a whisker to repeat the feat at the world championships.
Luke Durbridge celebrates as he wins the men's under-23 time trial in Denmark. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) Source: News Limited
Before that, veteran Australian Michael Rogers won three successive individual time trial world titles between 2003 and 2005.
Durbridge's 2013 season in Europe, his first with GreenEDGE, yielded only moderate results after his powerful start at the nationals, but that was of no great concern given he was riding big events such as the Paris-Roubaix one-dayer and the Tour of Italy for the first time.
"These are hard races to finish let alone perform in, so it was a year of learning rather than achievement," he said.
"This year will be different."
Durbridge will do the Italian three-weeker again hoping for a win in the TTT, which would then hopefully propel him into the Tour de France, which has always been a huge ambition.
He also has the Commonwealth Games in sight "so there are a few big goals."
He has decided to specialise in the time trial because, he says, the strongest rider usually wins, which is not always the case in the road race where various factors, including luck, can influence the results.
"The time trial is never going to have the hype of the road race but it is always going to have a place in cycling," he said.
"It's a show of strength. The Grand Tour guys like them because it's a chance to put a time difference into the others and show who really is the strongest.
"Yes, it hurts _ but if you don't like that, don't do this race."
ron.reed@news.com.au
TWITTER: @REEDRW
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