The Coffee Ride #170, with Reece Homfray
THE road to what Luke Durbridge hopes will be a spot on a Spring Classics podium begins in Ballarat on Wednesday after recovering from ankle surgery to start the new season.
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DURBO’S SPRINGBOARD TO CLASSICS DREAM
THE road to what Luke Durbridge hopes will be a spot on a Spring Classics podium begins in Ballarat today where he has recovered from ankle surgery to start the new season.
Durbridge had just 45 race days last year after crashing out of the Tour de France on the opening stage time trial.
While surgery to repair ankle ligaments was a success and he returned to a decent level at the world championships in September, an MRI scan in November revealed a hidden fracture which meant he had to give up his off-season running.
But he has been back on the bike long enough to build a solid base and will have his first intensive hit-out in the criterium to open the national championships on Wednesday night where he will ride in support of superstar sprinter Caleb Ewan.
The 26-year-old will also do the time trial on Friday and road race on Sunday, five years after he won both in a memorable double.
“I usually do the base miles then use the Bay Crits to rip the bandaid off intensity wise, but without them being held this year it’s a bit difficult so I’ll use the crit as a hit-out and work for Caleb,” Durbridge said.
“But I really am coming in with an endurance base, I’m not coming in with an emphasis on nationals.
“I’ll be fit and ready to go and last year my form was really good off base miles, so then I put the finishing touches on for the Classics and it all came together really nicely.”
Durbridge has long been ear-marked as a Classics rider at Mitchelton-Scott but truly announced his podium potential last season with fourth in Dwars Door Vlaanderen and E3 Harelbeke, sixth at Strade Bianche and 12th at both Tour of Flanders and Kuurne Bruxelles Kuurne.
With the likes of Mitch Docker, Jens Keukeleire and Magnus Cort all leaving the team in the off-season and Mathew Hayman entering possibly his last year, the opportunities and responsibility for Durbridge will increase in 2018.
“I’d like to be on the podium in one of the big Classics, last year I had two fourth places, one in a semi-classic and one in E3, sixth in Strade Bianche, so I was always in the top 10 in a lot of them and 12th in Flanders sprinting for fifth.
“This year I think I can get on the podium in one of those big Classics and that would be unreal.
“Last year I put myself on the map to say ‘okay I can do this and I want to do this’ where as for a couple of years I liked to say it but I had no results to say this is what I can be.
“We’ve lost a lot of Classics guys, and I think now I’m ready to step into those shoes, and with new signings like (Matteo) Trentin and Jack Bauer it’s really exciting for that Classics period.”
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The penny dropped for Durbridge that he was capable of a podium or even victory in a big classic in the Italian one-day race Strade Bianche.
“I crashed, got put out of the race, was in the bunch and the winning move was a minute up the road and (Tom) Dumoulin went on the climb and I went with him across and from there I was whittling down with five or six guys left,” Durbridge said.
“I looked on their faces and they were hurting just like me, before that I would always see them as untouchable but that brought confidence on for the rest of the Classics and I had full leadership at Flanders.
“I just want to be consistent and that’s what you need to be. You see guys like Greg (van Avermaet) and they’re always around the mark regardless of what race they’re in.
“You can’t work out how to win one of these races if you’ve never seen a final, I’ve worked out ‘okay now I’ve seen a few, how do I work out how to use my strengths to win one?’
“I would get dropped and before I used to panic and think my race was done, but now I just settle in, time trial over the top and it might take you one minute or 10 minutes but eventually you’ll get back.”
With Mitchelton-Scott deciding not to hold a pre-season training camp, Durbridge has stayed at home in Perth training with Anthony Giacoppo and Michael Freiberg.
He had to use a lot of mental energy to get back from his ankle injury last year which included a strict diet and swimming up to 3km a day, but he was fit enough to be there with one lap remaining in the 275km world championship road race.
But he said he wasn’t “Classics fit” and that’s the goal come March and April.
“There’s a big difference between being fit and doing big efforts after six-and-a-half hours,” he said.
“I’ve sort of done pretty similar preparation to last year, the coach and I worked out that the Classics season worked out pretty well by taking the pressure off at nationals in terms of intensity and just coming in fit.
“But I didn’t notice how far behind I was after having the injury, I only had 45 race days (last season) which is one of the least in the whole peloton.
“So I thought I’d be back to the same level as last year at this point but I’ve had to work a bit harder.”
MINUTE SILENCE TO REMEMBER JASON LOWNDES
CYCLING Australia will observe a minute’s silence before the men’s and women’s elite road races at the national championships on Sunday in memory of Jason Lowndes.
The popular cyclist - who had entered the national championships - was killed when he was hit by a car while on a training ride near his home town of Bendigo on December 22.
Lowndes finished 10th in the under-23 road race at Buninyong last year and finished sixth at the world championships.
CA officials have confirmed that a minute’s silence will be held before the elite races start on Sunday as a mark of respect to the young rider whose memorial service was held on Saturday.
Cyclists, including many of Lowndes’ friends, are also planning to meet to ride a lap of the Buninyong circuit together on Thursday.
All are invited to meet at De Soza Park in Buninyong by 8.30am for a lap of the road race course before heading to a cafe.
CAN ANYONE STOP EWAN?
AUSTRALIAN pro team Mitchelton-Scott says anything less than victory on Wednesday night will be a disappointment as star sprinter Caleb Ewan hunts a third straight national criterium crown in Ballarat.
Ewan, Australia’s top sprinter and one of the best in the world, will start a raging favourite for the 44km race to be held under lights in the Ballarat CBD.
The 23-year-old will be supported by strong team including his lead-out man Alex Edmondson and powerhouses Luke Durbridge and Cameron Meyer who has returned to the team this season after two years away.
“We have five guys and a really good team to support Caleb, anything less than a win would be a disappointment and by all reports everyone is going well so we are hoping for a good race,” team director Matt Wilson said.
Ewan’s biggest threats are expected to come from Brenton Jones, Scott Sunderland and Steele von Hoff who have all been on the podium before.
The field for the women’s 33km race is more open with track stars Ashlee Ankudinoff and Rebecca Wiasak capable of winning a fast criterium, while defending champion Jessica Allen and Kendelle Hodges who went 1-2 last year are both returning.
There is also strong interest in the men’s under-23 criterium with world-class track riders Cameron Scott, who won the Shimano Super Crit in December, and Sam Welsford, who won his third straight Burnine Wheel Race this week, expected to be at the pointy end.
Racing in Ballarat starts at 1.30pm on Wednesday. The elite women’s race will start at 6.30pm and the men at 8pm.
NEW BIKES FOR CAMP QUALITY KIDS
CYCLING is doing its bit to help put a smile on the faces of children living with cancer in Queensland.
Brisbane-based bike wholesaler Advance Traders Australia donated 20 Merida kids bikes to families involved with Camp Quality as part of an early Christmas present last month.
The bikes were built and handed over to the kids who were keen to take them for a spin.
“We hope the bikes will provide these families with countless hours of fun and happiness and bring optimism to families who are living through one of the most traumatic times of their lives,” Advance Traders general manager Andrew Garnsworthy said.
QUOTES OF THE WEEK ...
When you get to the nitty gritty of the Tour, two weeks down and everyone’s wheels are falling off, that’s when the foundation of that (team culture) is really tested.”
- Performance manager Allan Peiper on the team spirit at BMC.
I am happy to have a spot in such a fantastic team this summer, these girls deserve a ride and I am proud to be a part of the team.”
- Reigning national time trial and road race champion Katrin Garfoot on joining the UniSA-Australia women’s team for the summer.
Someone like a Peter Sagan is the clear favourite because he is good enough to get up Norton Summit and he is good enough to beat anybody in the sprint. It would have to be very selective for Peter Sagan to be dropped.”
- Mitchelton-Scott director Matt White tells Cyclingnews.com how he thinks the Tour Down Under’s new stage finish at Uraidla will play out this month.
Originally published as The Coffee Ride #170, with Reece Homfray
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