Five years have gone by since Luke Durbridge last raised his arms in victory, but the West Australian set the record straight with a vengeance on Sunday, taking his second National Championships road race title on home soil in a stunning 1-2 triumph for Jayco-AIUIa.
Durbridge's long-distance breakaway to victory ahead of teammate Luke Plapp - who bridged across late on to provide considerable assistance to Durbridge - came 12 years after he first won the road race in Ballarat. Including the four he has won in the individual time trial, his Perth triumph is also his sixth Australian Nationals' gold.
Taken in such memorable style in front of a delighted home crowd rooting strongly for the West Australian, Durbridge's 15th victory of his career likely helped take away some of the disappointment he felt after losing out on an almost certain time trial medal on Thursday when he missed the final corner.
But perhaps the best thing of all was that a hugely valued team worker like Durbridge could finally celebrate another win in his own right - five years after his previous triumph, in the Australian National Championships time trial in 2020 ahead of Rohan Dennis and Chris Harper.
"You just take them for granted," Durbridge said in an AusCycling press release, about victories and how his attitude towards winning had changed over the years.
"When you're younger, when I won my first one, you think, this is the way cycling's going to be. You're going to win races."
"All of a sudden, you realise that's just not how it goes. Every single victory you have to savour. It's been a long time between drinks, between victories for me. You just have to take it in, absorb it, and you've just got to appreciate it."
The first rider to attack on the opening lap after less than 10kms, Durbridge was initially joined by one other rider, Conor Leahy (CCACHE x Bodywrap). But with 70 kilometres to go, Leahy began to flag and Durbridge was alone at the head of the race.
Although he suffered late on, he managed to receive sterling backup from Plapp in the final segment of the course, before moving ahead to take the solo win.
“Both quads had gone and my back had gone as well, quite a long time ago that started to blow; Durbridge told race broadcaster SBS, "and then Plappy said ‘oh just look mate, you just hold the wheel and it's yours’ so I knew I just had to suffer, he’s just so strong. I’m so happy to get it."
Durbridge had nothing but words of praise for Plapp for sacrificing his own chances to ensure his teammate took an unforgettable win on home soil.
"He didn't need to do that. He would've broken the record, four in a row, which is insane.
"I'm lost for words. True class from the champion. I had a good ride today. I mean, I blew up, Plappy helped me out. Without Plappy I probably wouldn't have won today. Not just Plappy, my teammates back there, they all helped me out," he said to AusCycling.
"It wasn't in the plan to go that early. Maybe a little ambitious. We wanted to be away with CCACHE, actually, because that was probably the only team with numbers. And when Conor came, I thought, 'We're good here.'
"I was a little bit concerned because once I did get rid of Conor I was thinking, 'Now I am really alone.' But I had to sort of commit because then the gap went out to nearly three minutes and I thought, 'I'm in good shape here.'
"It was a long shot for him to be able to win the road race but he went after it, he died a thousand deaths and he had a guardian angel in Luke Plapp coming up and helping him across the finish line, it’s a great story," Jayco-AIUIa director Mat Hayman added in a team release.
"What an amazing day, it really is a fairytale ending for Luke. We’re in his home city, he’s been showing us around, he loves this place, his family is here."
'There's not a dry eye here'
While GreenEDGE Cycling - the parent company for Jayco-AIUIa - completed a hugely successful Nationals away with four victories and a further three podium finishes for their different team members, the scenario of working with a teammate to ensure a 1-2 Championships triumph was anything but unfamiliar to Plapp.
Last year Plapp was heading into the line with fellow Jayco-AIUIa racer Chris Harper, who stood aside to ensure Plapp got the win. And in 2021 even before his pro career got underway he sat up and clapped as national squad teammate and mentor Porte rode over the line at the top of Willunga in the 2021 Santos Festival of Cycling.
"That was all Durbo's," Plapp, already the winner of the National Time Trial title earlier this week for a third time, said afterwards.
"He's been amazing to Australian cycling for so many years. It's, I think, 12 years since he last won this jersey and he's been there for everyone else in those last 12 years.
"To have the national champs in his backyard, I knew how much it meant to him, especially after that unfortune [sic] in the TT. He came out here today to prove a point. There's not a dry eye here and everyone's happy for Durbo."
