Luke Plapp is about to race his first UCI Road World Championships in the elite category and he is doing it on home soil while carrying the nation’s hopes in the elite men’s time trial. It’s a big task at the best of times but even more so just a week out of his first ever Grand Tour, the Vuelta a España.
The 21-year-old Australian road champion, who also won the national time trial title in 2021, is Australia's sole representative in a category it is used to entering with high hopes, given it usually has 2018 and 2019 victor Rohan Dennis in its colours. However, with Dennis ruling himself out, the task of chasing rainbows is falling to last year's U23 silver medallist just after the neo-pro has also completed the longest race of his career, by far, in Spain.
"I'm still trying to sleep, I'm still trying to recover, honestly,” Plapp told Cyclingnews in Wollongong when asked about the Vuelta turn-around. “The last week of that, I was just on my hands and knees trying to survive. It was brutal. I severely underestimated it and it's just nothing like I've ever done.”
"I couldn't sleep enough. I couldn't eat enough. It was ridiculous, and I guess the last few days I was thinking, how on earth am I ever going to be able to ride this time trial?”
He got through the Vuelta and jumped almost straight on a plane to get ready for his World Championship race against the clock, with rest being the key preparation ingredient.
"I've really just tried to give my body the best chance it can to recover this week and that's why it is such a lottery coming in," said Plapp. "I've done the hard work the last month, but in the week leading up ... it's more for the head you like to have good efforts and good times and see good numbers on your screen to give you self-confidence into the race.
"But for me it's just been doing nothing and trying to recover. So Sunday morning when I wake up we will just see what happens."
It is not only an unpredictable run in for Plapp, but a course that could deliver varied results more broadly, with some 30 corners per lap and then a smoother stretch for the final section along the coast. It is also a shorter distance than is typical for a World Championships men's elite time trial.
The last two editions won by Filippo Ganna were 52.98km in 2020 and 54.37km in 2021. The technical aspects of the course, Plapp said, are a characteristic that doesn't suit him best, but he points out that he is not alone in that.
The technical nature may perhaps open up the opportunity for others to perhaps challenge Ganna's run.
Plapp, for one said Remco Evenepoel (Belgium), who he saw beat all comers at the Vuelta from close quarters, and Ineos Grenadiers teammate Ethan Hayter (Great Britain) were his two picks for the time trial.
"This is really different with the on and off power spikes and I'm leaning towards Ethan Hayter,” Plapp told a group of reporters, including Cyclingnews. "I think it suits him from his track background to a tee and so I think we will see a surprise result to the public, but maybe not to us inside. I think a lot of riders know he'll be one to beat.”
