Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Back to news and opinion index page for links to archived stories | Commentary | Our YouTube page

A dog teaches a boy fidelity, perseverance and to turn around three times before lying down. - Robert Benchley

Recently completed racing:

• October 1: Il Lombardia
• October 2: Tour de l'Eurométropole
• October 3: Sparkassen Munsterland-Giro
• October 4: Binche-Chimay-Binche
• October 6: Paris-Bourges
• October 9: Paris-Tours

Current Racing:

• October 9 - 16: World Road Cycling Championships
• October 11: Nationale Sluitingprijs-Putte Kapellen

---

Luke Durbridge re-ups with Orica-BikeExchange

Orica-BikeExchange sent me this news:

ORICA-BikeExchange has secured one of its biggest engines, West Australian Luke Durbridge, for the next two seasons. The former Australian road race champion, and only elite man to win the road race and time trial in the same year, is one of the ORICA-BikeExchange’s ‘big-three’ riders and a vital member of the team’s power source as shown in last weekend’s bronze medal ride in the team time trial world championships.

At just 25 years of age, Durbridge, who has raced at the past three editions of the Tour de France, continues to develop into a key contributor for the team’s Grand Tour ambitions but also as a Classics hopeful himself.

Luke Durbridge at this year's Tour de France

“I've been with the team since the beginning and I'm very happy with the role that I have, thanks to the development I have been able to do here,” Durbridge said. I’m especially pleased with how things have come together for me this year. I’ve been able to focus on the Classics and also to work for our leaders in the Grand Tours which has been great.

“I would definitely like to keep that focus and also work to get back into time trialing even more. It's something that I know I can use for a lot of purposes, both for my own results and for our common goals. The team definitely feels like home to me. I really like the environment, working closely with really good mates around me and I think we'll have a lot of results coming up in the next seasons. I look forward to being a part of it."

Pleased to see constant development in line with set objectives, sport director Matt White said Durbridge was an invaluable asset in the most demanding races on the calendar. “We have definitely seen Durbo (Durbridge) coming of age this last season and we’re really pleased to see how his long term development plan has succeeded,” White said. “He has done a large amount of high-level racing at a young age and he has adapted to it all mentally and physically.

“Luke has an astonishing engine and he has put it to great use in both the Classics and the Grand Tours. He has become a key member to our core group in the most demanding races and we’re happy to have him signed for the years to come.”

Luke Durbridge

Age: 25
From: Greenmount, Western Australia
Turned Professional:  2012

Key results:

-       1st 2015 Giro d'Italia - Stage 1 (TTT)
-       1st 2014 Giro d’Italia – Stage 1 (TTT)
-       1st 2013 National Championships Australia – Road Race
-       1st 2013 National Championships Australia – Time Trial
-       2nd 2015 Giro d'Italia - Stage 21
-       3rd 2016 UCI Team Time Trial World Championship

Giant-Alpecin's racing preview

The team sent me this update:

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS INDIVIDUAL TIME TRIAL

This week sees the World Championships in Doha, Qatar, continue with the individual time trial for elite men on Wednesday. The 40km parcours features long straight roads and sharp corners including eleven 90-degree bends. Team Giant-Alpecin will have two riders competing with Søren Kragh Andersen for Denmark and Tom Dumoulin for the Netherlands.

RACE: World Championships individual time trial men

DATE: 12/10/2016

LINE-UP: Søren Kragh Andersen (DEN)​, Tom Dumoulin (NED)

Tom Dumoulin time trialing at this year's Olympics

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS ROAD RACE

The final races of the World Championships campaign are the road races this weekend. The elite women will race a 28km section leading to a local circuit for a race total of 134.5km. The men's peloton will ride 151km into the desert before competing seven local laps of 15.2km totalling 257.5km. The major challenges for the riders will be the high temperatures and the possibility of cross winds.

The women's team will have two riders in action, one each for Canada and Sweden. The men's team is well represented with five riders lining up; two riders for the Dutch team, and one rider each from Denmark, Germany and the United States.

RACE: World Championships road race women

DATE: 15/10/2016

LINE-UP: Leah Kirchmann (CAN), Sara Mustonen (SWE) 

Leah Kirchmann at this year's Giro Rosa

Etixx-Quick Step headed to Putte-Kapellen

The team posted this update:

Belgium will play host to the last European road race of 2016.

Our team is ready to draw the curtain over a highly successful season, during which the riders have won 54 races, including 9 Grand Tour stages, 12 one-day races and the World TTT Championships. The final outing of Etixx – Quick-Step in 2016 will take place Tuesday afternoon, at the 83rd Nationale Sluitingprijs – Putte Kapellen, which will be held on a flat 16.69km circuit, without any major technical challenges, that the peloton will cover 11 times.

20 teams will be at the start of the semi-classic which by tradition ends up in a bunch sprint, and Gianni Meersman will head up Etixx – Quick-Step for the 183.5km-long race. The 30-year-old Belgian, winner of two stages at the Vuelta a España this season, will be flanked by fellow countrymen Pieter Serry, Guillaume Van Keirsbulck and Stijn Vandenbergh, Davide Martinelli and Zdenek Stybar.

Gianni Meersman

Back to news and opinion index page for links to archived stories | Commentary