Luke Plapp has completed two of his three season goals in a few days, the toughest one awaits him in Paris

During the first days of 2024, twenty-three-year-old Australian cyclist Luke “Lucas” Plapp completed two of the three tasks he was given by his new world-tour professional cycling stable Team Jayco-AlUla. He transferred to the team before the season from British team INEOS Grenadiers. The former world champion in track cycling, specifically madison, was going to prepare the Australian team to win a gold medal for Australia in the individual time trial at the Paris Olympics.

Before that, however, Luke Plapp had two big tasks given to him by the management of the only Australian cycling stable that competes in the elite professional WorldTour races, Team Jayco-AlUla. He had to win the individual time trial at the national championships and, if possible, succeed in the Australian championships in the mass start race.

Plapp has already won the Australian time trial championship in 2021 and the Australian mass start championship in 2022 and last year in 2023.

This year, he won both the Australian national individual time trial championship with great ease, then managed to finish second in the newly added Australian criterium championship when he was only able to outsprint twenty-nine-year-old Caleb Ewan, who was still racing for Belgian stable Lotto-Soudal last year, but this year also transferred to Australian team Team Jayco-AlUla.

The reason? The main one is to train the outstanding Australian spur racer with Korean roots together with other Australian riders in the same team in case he becomes a secret trump card for the decisive start in the mass start race during the Olympic race in Paris. That is, especially if the peloton finished together and Ewan could use his phenomenal spurting skills.

Well, it was the Australian Team Jayco-AlUla team that confirmed their clear dominance in the Australian mass start championship race.

Once again Plapp won, having been in the breakaway for nearly 100 kilometres with teammate Chris Harper, who finished second and many cycling pundits suggested he was a dandy for not spurt against Plapp, allowing him to win three consecutive Australian championship titles.

Plapp thus accomplished more than he should have at the Australian Championships. Instead of two gold medals, he brought back an extra silver from the criterium and has fulfilled two-thirds of it. The toughest task awaits him in Paris, when he has to continue Australia’s great cycling tradition and win an Olympic gold medal in the individual time trial.

And neither his stable nor the Australian Cycling Federation would be angry if either he, or Caleb Ewan, or anyone else, added Olympic mass start gold as well.

Source: Cycling News