Road Worlds: Plapp, Turnbull to launch Australian campaign in U23 ITT

Lucas Plapp (VIC) and Carter Turnbull (VIC) will open Australia’s UCI Road World Championships campaign when they line up for the Under-23 Men Individual Time Trial in Flanders, Belgium today.

They will tackle a flat 30.3-kilometre course from the beachside area of Knokke-Heist to the historic city of Bruges, covering most of the same roads as yesterday’s Elite Men’s race.

Both riders are proven against the clock: Plapp and Turnbull are Australia’s reigning Elite and Under-23 Individual Time Trial national champions respectively.

Plapp, 20, from Brunswick Cycling Club in Melbourne, has already tasted World Championship success, having won silver in the Junior Under-19 Individual Time Trial in 2018.

It’s been an eventful year for Plapp. A breakthrough performance at the Santos Festival of Cycling helped him earn a professional contract with the INEOS Grenadiers WorldTour team.

Since taking bronze in the team pursuit at the Tokyo Games, Plapp returned to road racing at the Tour de l’Avenir. There, he crashed out with a broken elbow, resulting in a disrupted preparation for these Championships, mostly on a stationary trainer.

As well as aiming for a strong result, Plapp hopes today’s time trial will prepare him for next year’s home championships in Wollongong.

Today’s race will also be the second World Championship participation for Turnbull, 21, from St Kilda Cycling Club in Melbourne.

Turnbull had been competing in the National Road Series with InForm TMX Make before he relocated to Europe in July to race for Trinity Racing.

Turnbull says he’ll be aiming to produce his best performance possible, admitting that he is relatively untested at this level of competition.

Lucas Plapp

Starting at 6:58PM AEST

It's obviously where my love is for the sport, in the time trials, and racing for Australia at Worlds is something that I really strive to do – especially looking towards next year.

That was a really big part of why I wanted to do this. There's not much experience you can gain in a time trial, because you go through the same process every single race. But for me, I really do want to experience that pressure and go through a Worlds TT before we head to Wollongong next year.

I'm really not good on a turbo trainer, I absolutely hate them. So, three-and-a-half weeks on that was really tough. I've been on the road now for the last few days, which has been super nice.

It's definitely not ideal and definitely not the prep I would like to have had, but nevertheless, I'm going to that start line confident. I think you have to be, to race the TT. I don’t think, if you’re not mentally in it, you're a chance at all. I'd like to go into that race thinking anything’s possible, because you don't really pin a number on to come second.

I think as far as World Championships go, the course is as flat and as least-technical as you can get, apart from maybe Doha a few years ago. Fifty metres elevation is just a couple of speed humps. And three or four corners really isn't too much.

For Belgium, it could have been a lot worse – or could’ve been a lot more technical, I should say. But at only a 35-minute effort and no climbs, I think it is going to work out well for me coming off the track. My Under-19 Junior Worlds was 34 minutes, so it is quite a short race.

But it’s definitely one I’m looking forward to, and I think it's been a blessing with the prep I’ve had coming off the Olympics.

Carter Turnbull

Starting at 7:56PM AEST

I’m feeling good heading into my first World Champs since 2018 as a junior. Last time around, I only competed in the road race, so I’m very keen to be racing the time trial this year.

My preparation has been slightly different to normal. Being in Europe and away from home, as well as only having a few weeks to train for the race, has meant the weeks leading in have been quite packed with specific training sessions, as supposed to a longer, more drawn-out preparation.

I like the look of the course, even though I do normally like a few hills. It’s extremely quick, which, with the predicted tailwind on race day, will result in high speeds.

For me goal-wise, I think it’s more about having a good ride on the day and getting as much out of myself as possible, due to not being familiar with the competition and not knowing how I stack up against them in a longer time trial.

Australian viewers can live stream the Men Under 23 Individual Time Trial from 6:30PM AEST on SBS On Demand. For more details on the 2021 UCI Road World Championships, read our all-in-one-guide.

Photo: Casey Gibson