Luke Durbridge beats Rohan Dennis to win his fourth Aussie time trial title
BUNINYONG, Australia (CT) – For the second year in a row Luke Durbridge (Mitchelton-Scott) has beaten reigning world champion Rohan Dennis (Ineos) to win the Australian time trial title.
Dennis started the race as the unbackable favourite, a little over three months after winning the ITT world title in Yorkshire. He beat 13th-placed Durbridge by over three minutes that day. But on Wednesday Durbridge proved the stronger over a new 37.5 km course that started and finished inside Federation University.
Less than a third of a second separated the pair after the first of two laps of a technical, undulating course, with Durbridge just ahead of Dennis. But by the finish Durbridge had extended his advantage to 17.5 seconds. Chris Harper, in his first race for WorldTour outfit Jumbo-Visma, was third, 1:52 behind Durbridge.
The victory adds to Durbridge’s previous Aussie time trial victories in 2012, 2013 and 2019. He also won the road race title in 2013.
Earlier in the evening Luke Plapp (InForm TM Insight Make) took out the U23 men’s time trial title, a year after finishing second in the same event. Plapp finished 14.6 seconds clear of fellow team pursuit rider Kell O’Brien while Plapp’s teammate Carter Turnbull was third at 53.9 seconds.
More to come …
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