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Luke Plapp

Age
25
Disciplines
Road
Categorisation
Podium Potential
Home state
Victoria
State institute
Victorian Institute of Sport

Luke Plapp started cycling at age 12 to keep fit as he pursued his primary sports, cricket and football. He quickly showed his potential as a track and road cyclist with Brunswick Cycling Club.

At the under-19 level, Plapp enjoyed an excellent 2018. He started by winning the Australian and Oceania junior individual time trial titles, plus three national titles on the track.

Later that year, he won dual junior track world titles: in the points race and the Madison (with Blake Quick). He also won silver at the junior road world championships in the time trial.

In November 2018, Plapp joined the Australian Cycling Team’s Podium Potential Academy for its inaugural class.

He made his UCI Track Cycling World Cup debut during the 2019-20 season, winning a gold medal in Round 5 in Brisbane.

​He began 2020 by winning the under-23 individual time trial national championship.

Plapp received a late call-up for the 2020 UCI Track World Championships in Berlin, where he finished fourth in the team pursuit and 13th in the individual pursuit.

The next year, Plapp took his first elite national title on the road, becoming the Australian time trial champion in Ballarat. He bolted into the Tokyo Olympics squad, winning bronze in the men's team pursuit with Alex Porter, Kelland O'Brien, Leigh Howard and Sam Welsford.

In 2022, he added the elite road race national championship to his palmarès, winning solo in Buninyong during his first race for INEOS Grenadiers. That began a famous hat-trick: Plapp would defend his road race title in 2023 and 2024. He also regained his time trial national title in 2024.

Plapp represented Australia on track and road at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, winning bronze in the team pursuit and placing fifth in the road time trial, and sixth in the road race and points race.

That same year, he was part of Australia’s bronze medal-winning team time trial squad at the UCI Road World Championships in Wollongong.

At the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Plapp competed in the individual time trial but crashed out in the rainy conditions, suffering injuries to his abdomen that required surgery.

The Melburnian has his Australian base in Victoria’s High Country, near Bright.

Club: Brunswick Cycling Club