Luke Durbridge underlined his status as the strongest rider in the Mitchelton Bay Cycling Classic when he won today's third race in the series, the Portarlington Criterium, for the second year in a row. Having meticulously prepared for his defence of his national road race and time trial championships, the time trial specialist was happy to reap the benefits of his good condition in the only race that really suits a breakaway.

After the first two races in the Mitchelton Bay Cycling Classic, Luke Durbridge has been praised by rivals, teammates and sports directors for his immense strength. Until today, he had, however, not had the just reward for his hard work but that changed when he crossed the line first in today's race in Portarlington.

On day 1, he had been one of the driving forces that made it possible for a 7-rider breakaway to stay clear but with teammate Matthew Goss not feeling well, he had little chance against the faster finishers in the sprint. One day later, he sacrificed his own chances to set up the sprint win for Goss but today the plan was to work for him.

In 2012, Durbridge was 2nd in Portarlington and last year he won the race that is described as the hardest of the series. While the other three races suit the sprinters, the course for the third race is one for the strong men.

Durbridge made it into an 11-rider group early in the race but quickly sensed that there was no cooperation. Attacking again, he was joined by Patrick Shaw (Satalyst) and the duo was happy to work together and stayed away all the way to the finish.

In the end, Durbridge emerged as the fastest in the two-rider sprint and he was happy to finally reap the benefits of his excellent form on a well-known course.

“I don’t mind the old Portarlington circuit, I’m glad it stayed dry, but I think it is the third time I have had a good result here so it is always great to get the win here,” he said. “I’ve won here before, so I know this is a course that suits me and suits the breakaway. I have been feeling good so far at this race, and I knew today was my best shot at taking a stage, so I really planned to go for the win.”

Having backed Goss on the previous day, the team was happy to support Durbridge in his quest to defend his win.

“The plan was for me to get away early, so it was good to get into a move with a group of about ten guys,” Durbridge said. “But that break wasn’t working well together, so I decided to attack and go it alone for the win. I felt pretty confident going into the final with Shaw, but I’m obviously really happy I could finish it off and get another win on this course.”

Durbridge did the majority of the work in the front duo but claimed that it was only natural for him to take on the heaviest burden.

“I was doing the head wind section, but as a time triallist I think that is fair enough, and Pat did the top section and we said ‘let’s work together until the finish and have a sprint at the end’," he said. “I think whenever you get in a breakaway with Pat Shaw you always get a little bit nervous. You never know if he is hurting or you never know if he is going hard or not, but I had him at the finish there. I’m just lucky I had the legs.”

Yesterday, sports director Matt Wilson had heaps of praise for Durbridge who had played an instrumental part in Goss' win. He was happy to see his rider get a personal reward.

“The whole team rode a superb tactical race today,” he said. “Durbridge showed for the third day in a row how strong he is and what great form he has at the moment. He got a win today as reward for those three days of super hard work, he really deserved it.”

However, it was a bittersweet day for Orica-GreenEDGE. Matthew Goss had started the day in the leader's jersey but the Australian was dropped by the peloton on the tough circuit and so failed to score any points for the overall standings.

“The plan was for Durbo to get up the road and go for the stage win today, and for Gossy to get enough points to hold onto the jersey,” said Wilson. “Half of that plan worked out, so we are very happy.”

In the finale, day 1 winner Zakkari Dempster (SASI) and Tom Scully (Total Rush/Hyster Racing) managed to escape from the peloton and a 4th place for Dempster was enough for him to regain possession of the leader's jersey. However, the overall standings are extremely close, with five riders being within 5 points of the overall lead.

Durbridge sits in 3rd, 3 points in arrears, and Goss is 4th, 1 point further adrift, and so Orica-GreenEDGE still has all to play for. With tomorrow's race in Williamstown being more of a traditional, sprinter-friendly criterium, Wilson is confident that Goss will be able to take his second overall win in the series.

“It was a super aggressive day today,” he said. “Durbridge and Shaw got close to lapping the field behind, that’s how well they worked together. That caused a huge commotion in the bunch, and the boys really struggled to control it. The attacks were just so rapid, but they did a great job.  Gossy didn’t score any points today, but with the likely bunch sprint tomorrow, we’re confident he can get the jersey back.”