After Luke Durbridge withdrew prior to Sunday’s final stage of the Mitchelton Bay Cycling Classic, his Orica GreenEdge directeur sportif Matt Wilson expressed uncertainty about whether the rider will be able to compete in the Australian road nationals.
Durbridge won both the time trial and road race titles in 2013, and is due to defend both this coming week. He showed his strong form when he raced to victory on Saturday’s third stage of the Mitchelton Bay event, and was third overall heading into the final day of racing.
However he woke up Sunday with a sore throat and decided to play things safe, choosing to miss the chance of taking the overall classification in order to boost his chances of recovery.
Wilson was asked if he was confident that Durbridge would be able to line out in the national TT championship on Wednesday, he said that he wasn’t.
'”Last night he was saying there was a little bit of something in his throat, and then he woke up this morning saying it was really, really sore,” he told the Canberra Times. “So there was no way we were risking him today. We'll nurse him in the next couple of days and hope it doesn't get any worse.”
Durbridge also won the time trial in 2012 and had wanted to aim for a hat-trick. If he ends up missing the time trial, he has a further four days to recover for the road race. It takes place next Sunday.