Luke Plapp (Ineos Grenadiers) gets to hold onto his green and gold jersey and matching Pinarello for another year, with the Ineos Grenadiers rider beating a stacked field to take the elite men's road race title at the AusCycling National Championships for a second year running.
The 22-year-old flew solo again, leaving his move much later this time given the baking heat and quality of the field, flying out of a small lead group with only a couple of kilometres to go and holding off the charge of second-placed Simon Clarke (Israel Premier-Tech), Michael Matthews (Jayco AlUla) in third and Drew Morey (Kinan Racing), who just missed the podium. Kane Richards (ARA Skip Capital) – a constant aggressor through the race – was next across the line to round out the top 5,
“I wasn’t ready to give up the jersey or bike just yet. I’m speechless,” Plapp told reporters after stepping off the podium. “It was so much of a different race, it was a different field, different sensations and even just the lead in - last year was perfect this year had its ups and downs – I can’t believe it worked and paid off to be honest.”
Plapp had been working hard towards the all-important summer period with European professionals flooding back to the Australian championships and international races returning to the calendar after two years of a COVID-19 pandemic induced hiatus. He was involved in a crash just before Christmas, however, taking a lot of skin off and forcing him to spend a week off the bike, which left him concerned that his form might have been a "little bit underdone" for the tough Nationals race ahead.
“I was a nervous wreck for the last week,” said Plapp who was flying solo at the race so was busy not only trying to work out how to win again without teammates but also sort out the organisational issues, from registration to getting the ice stockings sorted for a hot day out on the bike.
“It kept me busy and stopped me thinking about the race a bit which is good but it has been an amazing week and to finish it off like this is brilliant, whatever happens in the TT happens now,” said the 2021 Australian title holder in the race against the clock, which on Tuesday will mark the close of the National Championships for another year.
How it unfolded
The 185.6km elite men’s race set out from the small town of Buninyong in the early afternoon, with the riders facing up to nearly five hours and temperatures of around 30°C on a tough course. Ahead were 16 loops of an 11.6km circuit which from the start/finish line worked its way up the Midland Highway, took a left onto Mount Buninyong Road – the official climb of the race – before descending toward a technical section through Federation University before heading back to the finishing straight.
As the riders waited for the start gun to fire, the front row was packed with Grand Tour stage winners, from Michael Matthews (Jayco-AlUla), to Caleb Ewan (Lotto Dstny), Ben O’Connor (AG2R Citroën) Simon Clarke (Israel-Premier Tech) and Jay Vine, at his first race outing in UAE Team Emirates kit.
The attacks came early and by the second time through the start finish line there was already a group of close to 20 riders out the front with a gap of almost 30 seconds. It included one representative from Australia’s only WorldTour team, who had nine riders in the race, and that was Luke Durbridge. Others in the group included Richards, Morey, a bridging James Whelan and Lachlan Morton (EF Education- EasyPost), who was ever present at the front as the adventure oriented rider made a surprise – but not likely to be repeated – return to road racing.
There were plenty of attacks from that group through the early stages of the race, including a solo effort from Morton at more than 120km to go, with jersey unzipped and rolled up to cope with the heat. When he was swept up the next big move came from the two powerful riders, Durbridge and Richards who came fourth at the race last year, Then two at the front became five when Whelan, Morey and Samuel Jenner (Team BridgeLane) made the catch.
In the meantime, behind there had also been a split in the chasing field, with numbers cut, but with all the key race favourites having made it to the front section. The shuffling in the field kept occuring, as some riders set out from the chase to try and catch the lead group while others fell back. As the five leaders worked together out the front of the racethe rest of their original companions in the early break were absorbed back into the front split of the field.
As the laps ticked by, the fast-finishing Ewan and Matthews held firm on the climbs, even as the likes of O’Connor and Lucas Hamilton turned on the pressure and others such as Vine disappeared from contention. There were more breaks with James Whelan, Drew Morey, Brendan Johnston and Tristan Saunders out the front as the final lap played out as the bell for the final lap rang but with a talent stacked group of around 15 closing. It was an action packed final lap, with the lead group of five caught and a whole series of new attacks unfurled.
The outcome was that within the last eight kilometres of the race it was all down to a lead group of Clarke, Matthews, Plapp, Morey and Whelan.
When Plapp first hit out at 7km to go Matthews was quick to jump on his wheel, and Whelan dug deep to try and pull the group back but it was an effort too far as the rider who had been so active throughout the race fell off the back of the group, though the ever present Richards then joined to keep it five strong. The hit outs kept coming from the group of leaders, as when one was caught another would decide it was time to go. But then with just 1.5km left Plapp made the move that would stick.
Once the 2022 champion got the gap he wasn’t going to let it go keeping the power down until it was clear he wouldn’t be caught. He then went through the line, giving the buoyant crowd at the finish a bow as he went back to back in Buninyong.
It was then a tight battle for second that unfolded behind the celebrating Plapp, with Clarke pushing through to step onto his first elite podium at the National Championships road race in second place.
