The six-day competition features time trials and road races for both Men’s and Women’s classes, in three age categories: Juniors (up to 18,) Under 23, and Elite.
Australia, which sent 70 riders to compete, took home two golds and a bronze in the first day of competition.
The day started with the Women’s Juniors Time Trial, in which riders up to 18 years old raced solo over a 13.9 km (8.6 mi.) course through the city streets.
Australia’s Jessica Allen, with a time of 19:19 beat great Britain’s Elinor Barker by two seconds, and Germany’s Mieke Kröger by three.
“I got the time check at halfway that I was the fastest to the turnaround point and that really lifted me I think,” Allen told Cyclingnews.com. “The course was so technical I think that maintaining high speed into the corners and through the corners was essential."
Allen has an impressive list of wins already: nine U15 and U17 and five U19 wins in Australia in the past five years. Allen is looking forward eagerly to continuing to win in the future.
“Next year I move up to open women’s (category), so I’ll have a training camp in November with some of the senior girls, so that’s going to be a great experience for me,” Allen told Cyclingnews.com. “Moving up into the senior ranks, I can’t wait for that.”
Durbridge Takes Gold in Men’s U23 TT
In the afternoon, the U23 Men’s Time Trial started over a 35.2 km (21.9 mi.) course. Australia again took the gold, and very nearly the silver.
Luke Durbridge won the event with a time of 42.47, beating Denmark’s Rasmus McQuaade by 35 seconds.
A fall on the course by Australia’s Michael Hepburn gave local hero McQuaade a chance to grab some hardware for Denmark. Despite the fall, Hepburn finished only 11 seconds behind McQuaade; head he not lost 30-40 seconds crashing, he would have been challenging Durbridge for the gold.
Durbridge was almost too excited to give an interview after his win. “I am so happy, I am trying to get a sentence together—it’s fantastic,” he told Eurosport.
“Congrats to McQuaade and congrats to Hepburn Fantastic to have two Aussies on the podium.
“I’ve really rally hard for this—been p0lanning this out for the last sixth months; for it to come together on the day, that’s always the trickiest part.”
The course was very flat; a pure power course; Durbridge, who finished second in 2010, added some muscle for this year’s effort.
“About a lap in I was about 20 seconds up, and James [in the team car] said ‘You’ve got to keep concentrating,’ because I was starting to get a little bit blurry vision because I had pushed it pretty hard in the first lap—I am a naturally fast starter.
“The course was great it suited me, and I just grinded it all the way to the finish. The last 10 k I started to enjoy it, enjoying the feeling that I knew I was up and just had to bring it home and stay up.”
Rasmus also started fast, but slowed on the first half of the second lap. The young Dane picked up speed in the final 20 km, but he couldn’t outride the Australian. “I’m happy. Durbridge was much better than me today so I can’t complain,” Quaade told Velonews.com.
Hepburn started before the other podium finishers, and looked to be setting the winning time when he overcooked it a bit on a corner. Instead of slowing, the Aussie pushed harder, and a couple of corners later hit the pavement.
“You don’t plan for these things to happen. It shakes you up a bit, you lose time and in an event like this you can’t afford to do that,” he told velonews.com.
Competition continues Tuesday with Junior Men’s and Elite Women’s time trial events.
