Look out for Luke

Another time trial victory could end up
giving Luke Durbridge the overall win
in this year's Driedaagse De Panne.

Australian young-gun, Luke Durbridge, made his European season debut in Driedaagse De Panne today (Tuesday) and despite not having been racing on the road since Tour Down Under, he showed great shape and managed to stay in the front group. That means that current Australian & U-23 World Champion now has great chances of getting a good overall result in the Belgian stage race.

Both the second and third stage will most likely end up in a mass sprint and that means that the GC will be set on the time trial the final day. 14,7 km in De Panne should be perfect for Luke Durbridge and according to team manager Matt White it could very well end up with yet another overall win for GreenEDGE.

“There is no reason why he won't win the time trial. It's made for him. As long as he gets through the other stages alive, he'll be fine”, White told cyclingnews before the race started.

To me the big favorite for the overall win in Driedaagse De Panne is still Lieuwe Westra, being one of the absolute strongest on stage1, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Luke Durbrdige managed to take a podium spot in his first professional European race ever.