Moving from his European base of Andorra to Gent early in 2016 paid dividends for Luke Durbridge, with the Orica-BikeExchange rider enjoying his best classics campaign to date. The 25-year-old was 18th in Paris-Roubaix – as teammate Mat Hayman tasted victory on the 15th attempt – to signal he is heading in the right direction and ready for a big 2017 on the pave.
While the classics will be the main aim of the spring, Durbridge will also focus on getting back to his best against the clock with the Tour de France stage 1 time trial set as his second major season ambition.
"I would say it was a good classics season, as obviously I didn't get any major results but it was a really good progression to what I have been trying to work towards," Durbridge told Cyclingnews at the team's recent Winery Ride event. "I moved to Belgium, I lived in Gent for a month, tried to learn the roads, and I think that really helped with me making more of the final selection. I saw when the race really went, I got to see when guys would attack to win the race when normally you are dropped before that."
ADVERTISEMENT
Durbridge first rode Paris-Roubaix in 2013, rolling into the velodrome in 100th place. He improved to 90th the next year but dropped down to 102nd in 2015. This year marked a vast improvement with his first top-20 result in a monument.
A classics campaign that started with Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, featured a third place overall at Driedaagse De Panne-Koksijde and finished in the Roubaix velodrome, may not look impressive on paper. For Durbridge though, the spring was his best yet as he was consistently at the pointy end and could see when the race-winning moves were made.
"I was always within that last 30 guys at the classics, so I had some good races but nothing on paper to show 'this is a good result'. For me personally, it was good to know that I can be there, and now I have to perform within this group. It is a hard one to quantify as you look back on the results and see 18th is the best, but if you are consistently at the pointy end of those races, then it is a good race. 2016 was a good progression classics season."
Tour de France success
Time trial re-focus for 2017
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest News http://ift.tt/2h5rwNM
No comments:
Post a Comment