After taking the biggest win of his career, the 23-year-old Victorian looks back over the past few years, and ahead to the 2026 season.
Image: Cor Vos
You’ve probably already seen or heard about the men’s road race at Australian Road Nationals last weekend. There was plenty of online commentary about how Jayco AlUla tackled the last lap, but less of the discussion has focused on the new Australian champion, Pat Eddy (Team Brennan).
Eddy is back racing at the Continental level this year after two years in the WorldTour with Team Picnic-PostNL. He’s in Adelaide this week to race the Santos Tour Down Under with the Australian national team and it was in Adelaide that he caught up with Escape, a couple days out from the start of the race.
In the following interview Eddy reflects on his Nationals win, his time with Picnic-PostNL, his ambitions of getting back to the WorldTour, what this season might look like with Team Brennan, and what he’s expecting from the upcoming Tour Down Under. The following transcript has been lightly edited for clarity and fluency.
Matt de Neef: How’s the last week been for you after Nationals? You would have had plenty of messages, I’m guessing?
Pat Eddy: Yeah, a lot of messages, obviously, and it’s been super nice to hear from some people I haven’t heard from in a while, and also some new people and some guys I’ve looked up to for a long time. So that’s been really, really cool.
It’s also just been super busy and a bit tiring at times. I’ve also just been buzzing the whole week, and I’ve had a few nights where I’ve not gotten much sleep. But yeah, it’s been a really, really cool experience.
MdN: Have you had much of a chance to let it sink in, or has it been all about preparing for Tour Down Under?
PE: I deliberately sat down and watched it [the Road Nationals replay] on Wednesday night to sort of put it to bed, and then, since then, I’ve shifted focus to this week.
MdN: What did you make of all the coverage around how Jayco AlUla played it in the last laps, and all the criticism of Luke Plapp online?
This post is for paying subscribers only
Subscribe now
Already have an account? Sign in
Did we do a good job with this story?
👍Yep
👎Nope