Tour of Bright - A lone ranger, a crafty 19-year-old climber, Luke Plapp's TT resurgence and an unfolding GC duel

Once again the Tour of Bright delivered a heady mix of young talent with the carrot of some big names to chase, and it was a pair of 19-year-olds that charged across the rain-soaked line of stage 1 to claim the opening victory of the Australian tour at the top of Tawonga Gap. 

Talia Appleton (BridgeLane) went on the charge to claim the women’s A grade victory on the summit. Clearly not too fatigued by her long solo effort in the pre-race criterium, she leapt out of the lead group at around 1.5km to go and never looked back. In the men's A it was then the duo of Luke Plapp (Jayco-AlUla) and Jack Ward (BridgeLane) who raced through the bends and rain toward the peak of the popular high country climb.

Ward unrelentingly clung on the back wheel when Plapp launched on the climb and the young mountain biker then also had enough left in the tank to overtake the Australian champion, who had done so much work on the front during the stage.

Ward’s GC lead however didn’t last as there was no knocking Plapp off his rhythm, the rider sailing through the 17.4km race against the clock. His nearest rival on the stage was 39 seconds behind but his GC lead blew out, with now second-placed Ward 1:57 back with just the stage that has the climb of Mt Buffalo as its centrepiece remaining on Sunday, which happens to be a climb where Plapp holds the Strava record.

In women's A Alli Anderson (ARA Skip Capital) brought Appleton’s winning streak to an end, beating the dominant rider of the event so far by 17 seconds, which gave her a slim five second advantage on the overall.

For more detail on the opening criterium and Saturday's two stages, read on.

House parties and pub overflow in lively return of pre-tour criterium 

It may not be part of the official standings of the Tour of Bright, but the return of the pre-race Friday evening criterium in the centre of town certainly made a splash, not just with the damp weather but also the crowds. The outdoor seating at the well positioned local pub was utilised to overflow proportions while roads were lined with onlookers cheering on the gutsy moves of local heroes and visiting victors alike. On top of that couple of house parties kept the noise and excitement levels high around the residential back section of the 1km course in the scenic town nestled in among the mountains.

The patchy wet conditions, with the heat of the late spring day quickly evaporating as thunderstorms swept through, didn't prove much of a deterrent to riders or spectators though it did play a role in the races themselves.

"It was just really wet so I wanted to be at the front at the start and the next thing, halfway around the first lap, I looked behind and I had a solid gap," Appleton told Cyclingnews after the women's division 1 criterium.  

"I know that I have a solid TT so I thought that I would keep going with it for a bit  – it looked there might have been some others coming across to me at one point but that never really happened and I just kept riding."

That meant the 19-year-old also just kept stretching her advantage, and while she may not have planned to be a lone ranger it was a move that ultimately left the rest of the field racing for second place. Eunhee Lee, of the visiting South Korean team Samyang Women, was the rider who managed to snag that runner-up spot in the 40 minute and 2 lap criterium, sprinting over the line ahead of Appleton's teammate Lillee Pollock.

The men's division 1 crit followed a completely different script, with attacks coming thick and fast and then being reeled in just as quickly. Plapp was a little harder to find in the peloton than usual as the dual Australian road and TT champion had to lose his green and gold stripes for this one, such a rarity that he did actually have to ask his teammate Blake Quick if he had a spare kit. It was put to good use at the front, though, trying to set up the sprint for Quick in the final laps.

Still in the end the Jayco-AlUla rider came third, while Patrick Eddy (dsm-firmenich Post NL) claimed the prize and the 18-year-old Oscar Gallagher (Keystone-Cranetech Racing) came second.

The tour begins, the rain continues and the 19-year-olds rule

Image 1 of 8

Another day of rain awaited for the riders as they set out early on Saturday morning to get the tour itself underway with the 93.7km Gaps Loop stage 1. It was a route that would take the peloton out of Bright, to the top of Rosewhite Gap and then onto the nearly 8km climb of Tawonga gap, with the race finishing on the misty summit. 

The Women’s A field kept the race largely together until well after the halfway point, with a solo attack on the first corner after the Rosewhite Gap descent. Nicole Wilson (Cycling Development Foundation) launched off the front, followed by Vanessa Nanfra (Women’s Cycling Development) and Karla Bell. The trio held out front until they hit the turn onto Tawonga Gap. Bell took off alone until the charging group, not so much a peloton anymore, and managed to make the catch before the halfway point

Talia Appleton (BridgeLane) appeared to be tucked in the lead group through much of the climb as her teammate Katelyn Nicholson worked on the front but then hit out solo once again. She took off at the first lookout on the climb, that for those who were stopping to look opens up vistas across the valley and peers down on the township and pondage of Mount Beauty.

That move from Appleton at less than one and a half kilometres to go meant that, just like on Friday, she was gone and not to be seen again. Appleton crossed the line at the top of Tawonga gap 12 seconds ahead of Alli Anderson (ARA Skip Capital) in second while Anderson’s teammate Lauren Bates rounded out the podium in third, just a further two seconds back.

Men’s A split apart earlier in the race, the Rosewhite Gap climb around halfway through the stage doing some damage and the wet descent even more. A group of four riders – Jack Ward (BridgeLane), Tali Lane Welsh (CCACHE x Par Küp), Oliver Sims and Lindon Milostic –  emerged from the twisting wet downhill run with a solid gap. Then another group of four hooked on – Blake Quick (Jayco-AlUla), Elliot Schultz (BridgeLane), Cameron Fraser (Blackshaw Racing) and Joshua Ludman (Saint Piran) – and by then it looked like they could be gone to stay. 

Defending overall champion, Luke Plapp (Jayco-AlUla) wasn’t having that, however and struck out to bridge the one minute gap, with teammate Quick falling back to help out but spending his reserves in the process so one Jayco-AlUla rider was swapped for another at the front of the race.

Before Plapp arrived Lane Welsh had been a key rider driving the pace but once Plapp jumped across it seems that burden fell to him – he was defending champion after all and there seemed little choice but to oblige. The group got smaller as the gradient rose and then when Plapp decided it was time to really go only one rider could stick to his wheel and that rider was the 19-year-old who won silver in the elite category of the mountain bike National Championships this year, Ward.

There was no shaking Ward from the back wheel, no matter how hard Plapp tried. In fact, when the line came into view Ward had even kept enough in reserve to ride away from Plapp, taking the victory with an unexpected celebration.

“I was hoping to get some good results, I’ve been feeling good in training, but I didn’t expect to be able to like hang with Plappy, I think he was maybe taking it a little easy,” Ward said graciously as he spoke to Cyclingnews at the top of Tawonga Gap, “but it was good”.

Plapp was quick with a hearty congratulation to the victor and, while it may have been one up for Ward after stage 1, a margin of five seconds on GC over Plapp with a time trial ahead didn't exactly seem a gap Ward felt would tide him over. The screwed up face and bemused look was answer enough when asked immediately post stage by race media if he could stay within a reasonable distance of Plapp in the test against the clock.

Schultz was third, 1:02 back and just two seconds ahead of Lane-Welsh and three ahead of Ludman.

Stage 2's race of truth

There was no change to the weather for Saturday afternoon's stage 2 but there was a change in the tour standings after the time trial had played out. 

Ward's scepticism that he could hold the Australian champion within a tight range was well-founded, with no sign that Plapp was held back by either the wet conditions or the fact that it was the first time trial he had pinned on a number in since a crash at the Olympic Games in July, an accident which led to abdominal surgery and a long lay off.

Plapp delivered a time of for the 17.4 km Buckland out and back time trial of 20:28.5. That was 39 seconds ahead of Zachary Marriage (BridgeLane) and 54 seconds ahead of third-place Dylan Proctor Parker (ARA Skip Capital). Ward was 2:02 back in 18th place, which left Plapp in the lead of the race with the 19-year-old now 1:57 behind in second place overall and Tali Lane Welsh in third on the GC at 2:22. The gap to most of his rivals the GC focussed Plapp had pulled out with all that work on the front on stage 1 was paying off.

Appleton may have shown her time-trialling prowess in the criterium but she just missed out on making it three for three in the Women's A stage 2. Alli Anderson came out on top with a time of 24:13. That was 17 seconds faster than second-placed Appleton and 20 seconds ahead of the third-placed BridgeLane rider Katelyn Nicholson. As a result Anderson now heads the leaderboard overall, though there is just five seconds gap to a clearly in form Appleton.

With only one 64km stage to go before the final winner is decided on Sunday, but with a route that includes 1,552m of climbing as it makes its way up Mount Buffalo, the question is will five seconds be enough?