But, having won the toss and chosen the Surrey bank of the river, the lighter of the two crews mastered the testing conditions to claim a 12th triumph this century.
It was their 29th victory in the 70 races since 1927 and added to the 40-second victory of Oxford’s reserve boat on Friday.
“We didn’t get off to our best start and Oxford did,” Cambridge president Caroline Reid told BBC Sport. “We rallied well, though, and I’m proud of them.
“It was pretty horrendous around the halfway mark with the wind against the tide and some pretty high waves.”
Those conditions should have favoured the heavier Cambridge crew in the 161st men’s race, but Louloudis stroked favourites Oxford to their 11th success since 2000, all under the stewardship of coach Sean Bowden.
It was 23-year-old Louloudis’ fourth win in five years, a run only disturbed by his absence in 2012 to focus on winning Olympic bronze for Great Britain in the men’s eight.