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Cycling in his first professional season, 21-year-old Luke Durbridge is receiving plaudits aplenty.
Luke Who?
Riding for Australia’s Orica-GreenEDGE, home to Stuart O’Grady, Durbridge is at the forefront of our next generation of cyclists.
A gifted road and track rider before recently focusing on the former, Durbridge first showed his world-class potential at Delhi’s 2010 Commonwealth Games. In soaring heat, ticker got him third in the men’s 40km road time trial. That gutsy display marked his arrival. In 2011, the West Australian triumphed at the under-23 UCI World Championships and National road time trials, as well as in the team pursuit at the Junior Track World Championships.
“The week before Delhi, I was racing in Geelong, when the officials asked if I wanted to go to the Commonwealth Games. I said yes and two days later I was on a plane,” Durbridge recalls. “At the time trial in Delhi, it was the end of the season and I was at the end of my tether. I was a bit over Delhi, but I gave it my best and my best was a bronze medal.”
Up-and-coming cyclists usually require time to adapt to professional rigours. Durbridge, however, is an anomaly. During April, in his second men’s tour, he won a Circuit de la Sarthe stage. “The Circuit de la Sarthe was my third race as a professional, so I wasn’t thinking about winning,” he says. “It was a massive result. I was stoked.”
Dispelling any notions the debut win may have been a fluke, Durbridge then claimed June’s Criterium du Dauphine Libere’s 5.7km prologue time trial. These notable performances weren’t enough to force Olympic or Tour de France selection but, at such a young age, Durbridge’s opportunities will certainly arrive.
“Luke’s probably not ready for the Tour de France; he’s got the power, but he hasn’t got the endurance [yet],” says his coach, Simon Jones. “As for the Olympics, he was beaten in qualifiers by a quicker rider on the day, so that’s now behind us. But Luke’s focused on the back end of the season.”
What’s his story?
Sport played a prominent role in Durbridge’s childhood. Winter consisted of playing club rugby union, while summer was reserved for basketball. One year he competed in triathlons, but later quit because he hated swimming. It was
a good choice.
“I was enjoying cycling, so I thought I’d go down to the velodrome and see how I went,” he says. “They’d just started the talent identification program with the WA Institute of Sport and I went down that night, rode and got selected.” Unbeknownst to Durbridge, he was following his late grandfather’s footsteps. “I didn’t know he was a cyclist until after I started,” he says.
Others were growing aware of Swan Christian College’s boom cyclist. In 2006, Durbridge received the Junior Sports Star of the Year and Cycling WA Junior Achievement awards. The next year he won his first domestic title in the team pursuit. This feat was matched in 2008 at the UCI Track World Cup and Junior World Track Championships, justifying his sporting decision. “Once I started cycling, that was it – there was absolutely nothing else going on in my brain,” Durbridge says. “Eventually, the commitment got more and more and now it’s my life.”
Who’s he like?
Given his road and track upbringing, the cycling gene passing down generations and his time trial prowess, Durbridge has been compared to Englishman Bradley Wiggins. Jones, formerly head coach of British Cycling, believes the two are also likeminded. “There’s one person he comes close to from a focus point of view and that’s Bradley Wiggins,” he says. “But Luke’s better than him at the same age.”
“Luke’s focused, highly professional and hugely ambitious. There aren’t many athletes who have that ability to focus consistently, and that’s a huge ingredient in success.”
‒ Simon Jones, Luke Durbridge’s coach
‒ Taku Taneka