‘A year to remember’: Luke Plapp eyes RoadNats defence

It’s a hot summer’s day in Buninyong, just outside Ballarat.

Australia’s best male cyclists are four hours deep into their championship race, a 186-kilometre test of endurance that includes 16 gruelling ascents of Mount Buninyong.

Nearly 100 riders started, but fewer than 20 are still in contention, the rest unable to match the pace.

They’re clustered together in a group, except for one rider, who surged ahead earlier and has a minute’s lead.

Without warning, as the group crests the climb once more, a dark-clad figure starts sprinting away.

It’s 21-year-old Luke Plapp, who’s just attacked what’s left of peloton. He’s wearing a navy-blue jersey with red shoulders, the uniform of his new cycling team.

We’ve been here before, haven’t we?

Luke Plapp on the charge in Buninyong. (Photo: Con Chronis)

Yes, and no.

Twelve months earlier, on the same roads of Buninyong, Plapp had tried something similar.

Back then, he was riding for a domestic amateur team, InForm TMX MAKE. One of Australia’s best, certainly, but a step below the world’s top ranks.

Plapp had set off alone in search of glory, but that time, he’d tried it from a long way out, with 64 kilometres remaining.

It proved a bridge too far. Plapp was caught by his rivals before eventually finishing in 17th place, exhausted.

This time, things were different.

This year, 2022, was going to be Plapp’s year.

As a teenager from Melbourne, a sports-mad Plapp had turned to cycling to keep fit for cricket and football. It turns out he was quite good at pedalling a bike.

Before turning 18, he’d represented Australia at two junior world championships, winning medals at both.

He caught the eye of the Australian Cycling Team and was selected to join the national development academy.

2021 had been outstanding. He’d won the Australian time trial title in Ballarat, then become an Olympic medallist, winning bronze on the track at the Tokyo Games.

Plus, he’d secured his first professional contract with arguably the world’s best team: the British INEOS Grenadiers outfit, which had won seven of the last 10 Tours de France.

Ironically, in 2022 Plapp would race only once in that dark-blue INEOS jersey.

Because on that Sunday in Buninyong, Luke Plapp left the peloton in his wake, stormed across the gap to the lone leader, and rode on to a famous solo victory.

As winner of the road race national title, Plapp pulled on the green-and-gold jersey of Australian champion. He would wear those stripes for the rest of his debut season in the WorldTour, the highest level of professional cycling.

And what a season it’s been.

It began in the Middle East, at the UAE Tour, where he showed he belonged by climbing to fifth atop Jebel Hafeet behind none other than one Tadej Pogačar. Plapp finished 12th overall, third on the youth classification, but could’ve gone even better had he not crashed during the time trial recon, forcing him to use a road bike instead.

However, he wouldn’t need to wait long to achieve a top-10 WorldTour finish, taking ninth overall at the Tour de Romandie.

The next race saw Plapp step onto his first professional podium: third overall at the Tour of Norway, outclimbed only by Remco Evenepoel and compatriot Jay Vine.

After that? A blistering Commonwealth Games time trial that came unstuck due to a mechanical incident, followed by an entertaining, attacking performance in the road race.

Then came Plapp’s first crack at a Grand Tour, riding the three-week long Vuelta a España.

From Madrid, he flew to Wollongong for a World Championships on home soil, where he helped drive Australia to bronze in the team time trial before making his presence known in the breakaway in the road race, setting up Michael Matthews for a medal.

Photo: Getty Images

Safe to say, Plapp has enjoyed the start of his professional career.

“It has been a year to remember taking the green and gold to Europe and trying to showcase the jersey as best as I could,” Plapp told AusCycling at a media event in Ballarat yesterday.

“I take a lot of pride in being able to wear the bands and represent Australian cycling in what has been an absolutely amazing year for the men and women road athletes.”

The Victorian’s first goal will be to try to win those Australian stripes for another 12 months.

“RoadNats now has a very special place in my heart, and it’s one of the first things I pencil into a season calendar and work towards,” Plapp said.

Australia's top riders are lining up to wrest that jersey off his shoulders. (Photo: Con Chronis)

“There aren’t many better experiences then racing up a scorching hot Mount Buninyong on a late Sunday afternoon with the fans packed on the sides cheering. I hope we see another great turnout this year.”

He’ll have his work cut out for him.

This January, with COVID travel restrictions mostly just a memory, the Road National Championships have attracted many Europe-based stars.

Grand Tour stage winners like Jay Vine, Simon Clarke and Ben O’Connor will be there, as will proven contenders like Chris Harper, Kelland O’Brien and former champion Luke Durbridge.

This year in particular has seen the rise of the next generation, with 11 Aussies earning their first professional contracts. Plapp expects tough competition from the likes of Jensen Plowright, Cameron Scott and under-23 champion Blake Quick, for whom RoadNats will be their first event in WorldTour colours.

“This year is sure to be one of the most hotly contested and star-stacked fields we have seen in some time, with the majority of Australia’s best WorldTour riders returning and also the high quality of riders that are coming out of the domestic scene and peaking for Nats,” Plapp said.

Pre-pandemic crowds lining Mount Buninyong in 2019. (Photo: Con Chronis)

“We have seen a number of young Aussies turning pro after successful summers, and I look forward to seeing who stands out this year and gets their name out to the European teams.”

Without doubt, Plapp will start in Buninyong as one of the favourites for both the time trial and road race.

He’s won both before, and the motivation is sky-high to do it again.

“I’m super excited and raring to go in an attempt to keep the Aussie bands for another year and be able to keep what I believe is the best-looking bike and kit in the world.”

Whatever happens in Ballarat, keep your eyes peeled for that INEOS kit. It might be the only chance you get to see it.

The Federation University Road National Championships will be held in Ballarat from January 6-10, 2023. For more information, visit the Road Nationals website.

Feature photo: Russ Ellis