Australian Luke Durbridge convincingly won the under-23 men's time trial at the 2011 UCI Road World Championships in Copenhagen on Monday afternoon.
Durbridge clocked by far the quickest time along the 35.2km route to give Australia its second gold medal - and world champion - of the day after Jessica Allen won the junior women's time trial in the morning.
Only three other riders managed to get within a minute of Durbridge.
Local man Rasmus Quaade gave the sizeable Danish crowd plenty to cheer about by claiming the silver medal, 35 seconds behind the winner. Durbridge's Australian team-mate Michael Hepburn scored bronze, 46 seconds behind his compatriot.
Hepburn had set the early marker despite crashing on a corner and then waiting to receive a replacement bike before continuing. He sat in the hot seat - with a large gauze on his knee - until Quaade finished quicker to bump him down. Had Hepburn not crashed, we would almost definitely have seen an Australian one-two.
Great Britain's sole representative in the event, Mark Christian, finished 2-59 adrift of Durbridge, placing him 30th from 65 competitors.
Result
UCI Road World Championships 2011: Under-23 men's time trial, 35.2km
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1. Luke Durbridge (Aus) in 42-47.13
2. Rasmus Quaade (Den) at 35.68 secs
3. Michael Hepburn (Aus) at 46.47 secs
4. Anton Vorobev (Rus) at 58.99 secs
5. Jasper Hamelink (Ned) at 1-52.94
6. Jason Christie (NZl) at 2-00.48
7. Luis Mas Bonet (Fra) at 2-04.18
8. Tom Dumoulin (Fra) at 2-04.71
9. Damien Howson (Aus) at 2-05.96
10. Rudy Molard (Fra) at 2-09.67
Other
30. Mark Christian (GBr) at 2-59.51
Mark Christian
Michael Hepburn clearly showing the marks of his crash
Dane Rasmus Quaade scored silver in front ofhis home crowd
Luke Durbridge riding himself into the rainbow jersey
Luke Durbridge tops the under-23 men's time trial podium
Related links
Barker takes silver for GB in Worlds junior TT
Road World Championships 2011: Cycling Weekly's coverage index
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