Luke Plapp is focused on racing his first ever Tour de France but the Australian allrounder is already meticulously planning out his assault on the World Championships time trial
The Jayco-AlUla rider has already turned in an excellent time trial this summer in the Tour’s uphill race against the clock in Peyragudes, holding the best time for several hours and finally ending the day in fifth.
Plapp told Cyclingnews that the Peyragudes TT was not a specific target but the World Championship TT in Rwanda on September 21 definitely is.
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After the Tour de France and the Clásica San Sebastian, the three-times Australian National time trial champion will stay at altitude in August in Font Romeu in the Pyrenees, with both the location and the timing of the camp deliberately selected with the World Championships in mind.
“Most TTs these days are quite demanding and challenging in lots of ways, but in this particular Worlds’ the attitude’s probably the biggest of them,” Plapp told Cyclingnews.
“I’ve never done a TT that high, I don’t think anyone has, so that throws a cat amongst the pigeons as well.
“I think you’ve got to really specifically prep for it, given that it is at altitude. That specific TT prep is something that I really enjoy doing, so I’m also looking forward to it. And I guess not everyone has that luxury of doing a specific prep for the TT like that either.”
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Plapp definitely wouldn’t go to altitude in August if the Worlds itself wasn’t at altitude in September.
“I didn’t do it for the Olympics or I haven’t done it for other key targets. But I’m doing altitude at Font Romeu, which is at 1800 metres above sea level, so it’s very, very similar to the height where the Worlds are and it’s purely based off that.
“The one thing that makes it hard is when you get to Rwanda, you’re sleeping straightaway at altitude. So without it, just staying at a hotel a week before the race, you’d struggle as soon as you arrive.
“Plus, I haven’t done attitude this year actually, either before the Giro or the Tour, so it’s sort of good to always get an attitude block in the body each season. If I had done one already, I’d probably say no to this one. But hopefully the combination of Giro, Tour, Clásica San Sebastian and then altitude is the perfect recipe.”
While Plapp is keen to help Australian defend their team time trial gold from Zurich last year, his personal time trial results bode well for a strong individual TT performance in Africa.
Apart from taking a silver medal in the U23 Worlds back in 2021 behind Jonas Price-Pejtersen (Denmark) and twelfth in the 2022 elite men’s equivalent event, he’s also got two very encouraging much more recent results in his Tour de France debut to further bolster his confidence for a rainbow jersey this autumn.
A top five in Peyragudes
Luke Plapp stays low and aero during the first Tour de France time trial (Image credit: Getty Images)
Ninth in the opening week TT in Caen was already a solid performance, but Plapp’s fifth place in the uphill time trial in the Pyrenees was perhaps the real eye-catcher, particularly, as he tells Cyclingnews, “that stage was never a target for me, to be honest.”
“So whatever the team suggested I used” – in his case, a disc wheel on a road bike – “that was, that was what I put on and just went to work.
“It was never one that I thought I’d be able to get a result on, it was purely a super stress-free day, I just went out there and just rode the best I could.
“To see where it finished up was really special and completely unexpected. I hadn’t done a recon, though I knew the climb anyway so I didn’t need one, it was just about doing the power.
“I only took a radio just because I didn’t know what the first 5K were like. I just made sure that I didn’t take any corners too fast, and they got me through to the climb safely, and then after that, it was just about me doing my own thing.”
Until Sunday night, Plapp is focused on the Tour de France, where his debut is going well, with ‘no shockers’ of bad stages and the good TT days already a bonus. A final goal for the third week is a repeat of his memorable breakaway victory in the Giro d’Italia.
“You want to do well and you dream of winning a stage but so does everyone here. The level is so high that you sort of really just try to make the most of the opportunities you have, when they present themselves. You try to put yourself in the position to have those opportunities as well.”
“At the same time, I’ve really just loved being a part of that race, and it makes me want to be a part of it every year from now on as well.”
Like a deer in headlights
Luke Plapp won stage 8 of the Giro d’Italia (Image credit: Getty Images)
The bonus of riding the Giro, Plapp says, is that his body has adapted well to longer stage races, making for greater consistency, as well as honing his ability to both up the power when needed as well as to disconnect mentally when required.
“Not riding GC obviously here has allowed for that, to sort of just go with the flow and when I’m going hard, go hard, and when I go easy, go easy,” he said.
“But I haven’t actually struggled as such and had really bad days. I’ve been lucky enough that some of my good days have been really, really good.
“I really targeted the first TT, and wanted a good result there, so I went out like a deer in headlights and, and gave it what I could and unfortunately just died. Then that second TT on the mountain, I had the same legs I did for the first TT. It was just luckily 10 minutes shorter.”
Regarding the third week, he describes himself as optimistic, and after he and teammate Mauro Schmid tried to make it into an early Ventoux move on stage 16, he’s now got half an eye on next weekend’s rolling stage through the Jura, just before Paris.
“I don’t know how many opportunities there are going to be. Stage 20 is probably the only one where there might be that opportunity, where it’s not going to be raced by the GC guys. On stage 17, I’ll be there for Dylan Groenewegen to contest the sprint.
“So it’s just about making the most of what we can as a team in the last week. We still haven’t got that stage win, so whether that means an opportunity is for me or whether we can find it for someone else, that’s the goal.”
After the Tour and the Clásica San Sebastian, a race which Plapp says suits both him and the team, it’s all out for Rwanda and the World Championships, starting with the 40.6 kilometre individual race against the clock on September 21.
“Hopefully it all works well, and I get to Africa and I’ll be feeling really good and will be in good contention to have a really strong result there,” Plapp said.
“It’s an event that I always want to target and have as a major goal, whether it’s the Worlds or the Olympics.”
“To have a really good Championship TT is something that I haven’t done yet, but it’s something that I really want to have – and I think this year is a great opportunity for that.”
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