We investigate the transition between a twisted regime and a disordered regime in a directed ribbon model on a cubic lattice. A fugacity corresponding to an interaction which models half-twists in the ribbon is introduced and the interacting model is solved exactly. Our results suggest that conformational entropy and a local interaction which induces twist are key ingredients to model qualitatively the crossover behavior between a twisted (helical) regime and a denatured regime in duplex biopolymers such as DNA.