Australian champion Luke Plapp brushes Euro TT 'monkey off the back' as pursues evolving Olympic dream

Picture by Zac Williams/SWpix.com - 10/05/2024 - Cycling - 2024 Giro d'Italia, Stage 7 ITT - Foligno - Perugia - Italy - Luke Plapp, Jayco Alula.
Australian time trial champion Luke Plapp during the stage 7 individual time trial at the Giro d'Italia 2024 (Image credit: Zac Williams/SWpix.com)

There is never any shortage of Australian cyclists dreaming of a mid-year escape to Europe where both the racing and weather are heating up, but Luke Plapp decided to do the reverse, as he recovered from a satisfying, although illness hit, showing at the Giro d’Italia and prepares for the next big goal of the season, the Olympic Games.

The target, which now sits in the rearview mirror, was all about building to the future, the one ahead, a goal from the past. Plapp went to his first Olympic Games in Tokyo on the track, walking away with a bronze in the Team Pursuit after a tumultuous qualifying saw one of his teammates, Alex Porter, hit the boards when a handlebar broke and the re-run time then left Australia out of contention for the gold medal, though they fought back to secure bronze.

Simone Giuliani
Australia Editor

Simone is a degree-qualified journalist that has accumulated decades of wide-ranging experience while working across a variety of leading media organisations. She joined Cyclingnews as a Production Editor at the start of the 2021 season and has now moved into the role of Australia Editor. Previously she worked as a freelance writer, Australian Editor at Ella CyclingTips and as a correspondent for Reuters and Bloomberg. Cycling was initially purely a leisure pursuit for Simone, who started out as a business journalist, but in 2015 her career focus also shifted to the sport.

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