Australia's team pursuiters know pressure comes with success
Russians making gains ahead of critical 2012
There may be 491 days until the London 2012 Olympic Games begin, and another world championship competition to be run and won however back-to-back team pursuit world champions Austr🐽alia know the pressure to perform is only going to increase.
ꦇThe foursome of Jack Bobridge, 21, Rohan Dennis, 20, Michael Hepburn, 19, and debutant Luke Durbridge, 19, were the only t༒eam of the competition to ride under four minutes for the four kilometre, 16 lap event.
Clocking a time of 3:57.832, the Australians defeated the Russians (4:02.229) in the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:gold medal ride off.
Hepburn explained following the win that all eyes were on the Australi꧅ans as defending champion🔯s.
"There was a lot of pressure and a lot of teams loo⛄king at us as the top team here," Hepburn explained. "Some class competition out there but the track was a little bit slower than we expected and we were a little bit surprised by some of the times in qualifying but in saying that we knew𝕴 we had to be right on our game and not let our ball down."
And the Russian team might just be the team to watch heading into the big events next year with the Australian men's track endurance coach, Ian McKenzie coach saying he was happy ꦏfor the added competition.
"There's no doubt the Russians are coming," said McKenzie. "Our plan was to ride to schedule on a 3.58 to the൩ 2km mark and then see where we were against them but they hit the front (on lap six) so we started racing then.
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"I'd much ra✤ther have a race than qualifying, just going for a time. To get a goo♏d time is rewarding but I reckon it's all about the racing for me, for the spectators and the riders enjoy it more too."
Durbridge claims maiden elite world title
Western Australia's Luke Durbridge, a three💞-time world champion as a junior was left feeling overwhelm൲ed by his first senior title.
"I'm lost for words a little bit and it will take a while to sink in," he explained. "I trained with these guys all last year and the year before and it🌄's so good to come here and experience it. It keeps you hungry for the next year an♌d I'm really happy and glad I could win it with these guys."
Durbridge had fallen just short of earni🌠ng a place on last year's team for the wor🐽ld championships in Copenhagen so the result went some of the way to making up for the disappointment felt with his omission.
"Durbridge's made a huge step from last year and I'm very pleased with the way h🍃e went in both rides today but t꧂he big bonus for me is now he'll be even hungrier to make the Olympic team and the more the better," said McKenzie.
As a sports journalist and producer since 1997, Jane has coℱvered Olympic and Commonwealth Games, rugby league, motorsport, cricket, surfing, triathlon, rugby union, and golf for print, radio, television and online. However her enduring passion has been cycling.
Jane is a former Australian Editor of Cyclingnews from𒁏 2011 to 2013 and con🅠tinues to freelance within the cycling industry.