Luke Plapp to have surgery on wrist, not racing Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race

Picture by Zac Williams/SWpix.com - 25/01/2025 - Cycling - 2025 Santos Tour Down Under, Stage 5 Mclaren Vale to Willunga Hill, Adelaide, Australia - Luke Plapp, Jayco Alula.

Luke Plapp (Jayco-AlUla) with a strapped up left wrist at the Tour Down Under in Adelaide (Image credit: Zac Williams/SWpix.com)

Luke Plapp (Jayco-AlUla) has ended the Australian racing season early, with his team announcing that the rider who came sixth overall at the Tour Down Under would be sitting out the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race on Sunday as a result of a wrist injury.

Plapp could be seen racing with a heavily taped up left wrist earlier in the Australian summer season and the rider told Cyclingnews in Adelaide on Sunday that he had re-aggravated an earlier injury in December when he crashed in training while descending Mount Buffalo. He said at the time that it had been sore since but he had been cleared. However, now another assessment of the injury has lead to a decision to pause his race plans.

"After suffering with ongoing wrist discomfort from an injury sustained in 2024, Luke Plapp will not race the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race under advice from the team’s medical staff after being reassessed," said the team in a statement.

"Plapp will have surgery & rehabilitate his wrist to ensure he is ready for the long 2025 season with big goals ahead."

The rider was also not on the start line of the Surf Coast Classic in Lorne. It was a race he in 2024 had used to test his recovery from a bad crash at stage 3 of the Tour Down Under that year – lining up with a heavily strapped left wrist and plenty of bandages – before taking on the 2024 Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race where he came 16th.

Plapp's absence in 2025 will leave the team without one of its key contenders in the race, though it does have other options including the likes of Mauro Schmid and Kelland O'Brien.

After taking some time to recover after crashing in the time trial at the Olympic Games, an injury which required abdominal surgery, Plapp didn't really have an off season but kept working up toward the key target of the Australian summer, planning to have a break at some stage after the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race. A race break that will now come earlier than expected.

Plapp, when talking to Cyclingnews in Bright in December, outlined that his key goals for the year following the Australian block included chasing a top-ten result in a GrandTour.

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.