Plapp’s road back from pain of Paris

Luke Plapp was home in Andorra, recovering from a virus that kept him off the bike for 10 days shortly after his Giro d’Italia stage win, when he swapped text messages with Richie Porte.

“I was messaging Richie and we were talking about how it all started,” Plapp said.

“And now to be here, I have him to thank for everything and being able to turn pro.”

Four years earlier Plapp, the apprentice, and Porte, the master, rode side by side up Willunga Hill and went 1-2 across the finish line in the Santos Festival of Cycling, which replaced the Santos Tour Down Under for two years during Covid.

"The rider of the day was Plappy in second," Porte said after the stage. "He could have easily come around me but he didn’t.”

Plapp was a 20-year-old track rider and two-time national road time trial champion, and his week alongside Porte in the national team in Adelaide helped him land his first professional contract.

“It is a really special race and I hope one day I can win up Willunga and do what Richie used to do,” Plapp said.

“I absolutely love that race and used to live in Adelaide with the track program so it does feel like my second home in a way.

“It’s always going to be a massive goal. I’d love to look back in eight or 10 years’ time and have won a Tour Down Under, and especially for the team it’s such an important race, so to win it with Jayco-AlUla one day would be very special.”

When Plapp spoke to tourdownunder.com.au this week, he was only just getting back on his bike having recovered from the virus that forced him to abandon the Giro on Stage 17.

“I had almost 10 days off the bike because I was pretty crook,” he said.

“It was a virus and I went to hospital to get checks afterwards, but it completely shut me down.

“The day I pulled out of the Giro I didn’t feel bad, I just had nothing in the legs, but every day after was just getting worse and worse, and ended up being nearly two weeks off which was disappointing being so close to the finish.”

But the disappointment of a DNF just four stages from Rome took nothing away from the euphoria a week earlier when he won his maiden Grand Tour stage.

After being so close for so long – 3^rd, 5^th and 5^th at the Giro, 3^rd at Tour of Romandie, and 2^nd and 2^nd at Paris-Nice – Plapp finally had a big European win on his palmares.

And he did it in style, riding 46km solo after attacking the breakaway to win Stage 8 in Castelraimondo.

“The days following the win was when it really sunk in,” Plapp said.

“I’d been so close so many times and it’s just awesome to get that monkey off the back, a big European win, which I knew I was always capable of, but I hadn’t been able to pull it off.

“More so nice to show (team owner) Gerry (Ryan) and the team I was capable of it, and gives me a lot of confidence going forward because we knew I had it, but every race or season that goes by you do wonder ‘when is this actually going to come?’”

The 24-year-old missed Ryan at the Giro by one day but got a phone call from his team owner at 3am Australian time.

“He was in Australia getting on a plane that morning and was super stoked, and the Giro as a whole for the team with Harps as well (Chris Harper’s stage win) was very exciting.”

What made the win even sweeter for Plapp are the challenges he’s had to overcome in the past 12 months to get there.

In January he had six weeks off the bike after undergoing wrist surgery, and at the Paris Olympics last year he required abdominal surgery after a horror crash in the individual time trial.

“That was the worst crash I’ve had,” he said.

“But that one was tough to come back from because of the heartbreak mentally as well as physically.

“I was second or third in the race when that happened and your dreams are almost coming true, then suddenly you’re in hospital on a surgery bed.”

It was from his hospital bed in Paris he watched his former track teammates break the world record and win gold in the team pursuit.

Plapp was part of the Australian team pursuit that won bronze three years earlier in Tokyo but said he had no regrets having switched to the road full time.

“I caught up with Kel (Kelland O’Brien) just a few days ago and we were chatting about it and his gold bike, it’s still very exciting,” he said.

“There were a few moments leading up to Tokyo where Timmy (coach Tim Decker) really helped me stick at the track, and after Tokyo I rode Comm Games (in Birmingham) and it was still the plan to do Paris on the track as well as the time trial on the road.

“But with moving teams a lot of the focus changed and I had to go in one direction. I would have loved to be there with the track boys, we went through so much for so many years, but to see what they achieved was awesome as well.

“And I still look back at Paris as one of the most exciting and best days I’ve ever had.

“Even before my TT watching Grace (Brown) do her thing and win gold, sharing that whole week with Grace and the first 20 minutes of my race, it was all very special and makes me love the Olympics more even with what happened. LA (2028) is still the number one goal.”

After the Paris crash, Plapp could have been excused for calling an early end to his season but he was determined to get back for one final goal – the Tour of Bright back in Australia in his home town.

For Plapp it’s not about the racing but welcoming riders to his backyard where his family runs highland cows and sheep on 10 acres.

“I have a lot of pride doing that race, it’s not just racing on home roads, it’s seeing so many people come to my home town and enjoy the High Country,” he said.

“I get all my close mates and we camp on my block, have a bonfire and a beer after the race and really switch off.

“It’s the number one thing I miss when I’m in Europe, being on the farm with the cows.

“A farm compared to an apartment in Europe is two completely different lifestyles and I still feel I can get my best training done and be the happiest I can be.

“There is a bunch ride every single day of the week there so if I have an endurance day I go out with them and on Thursdays we have a ride called ‘The Hammer’ which is a chop off to Harrietville and back which is full gas and the locals are so strong, you can only train on hard roads.”

Now back in training following his Giro success, Plapp is busy planning the second half of the season which may include the Tour of Austria, Tour of Poland and the world championships in Rwanda.

“A lot can change but at the moment it’s about building back up after the Giro,” he said.

“I’m looking forward to what the rest of the year can bring and I have all eyes on Rwanda, I’m really excited about that.

“Definitely time trial and team time trial. Australia are super lucky with how many climbers we have, you can quickly name eight world class climbers, but one-day racing is one thing I want to work on and get better at for the future as well.

“Even the way I treated the Giro stage, like a one-day race and trying to win it, rather than think about the next days and that comes from the track, it’s all about winning and performing on that one day.

“Africa with 5500m at altitude is a bloody hard one-day race but supporting the Aussies is something I love doing and going to a worlds or Olympics, the advantage is we always sacrifice for each other, so I’d be excited to be there and support our guys as best I can.”