"I was happy to see him win three in a row" - Chris Harper doesn't mind gifting the National title to his teammate Luke Plapp

When two-time winner Luke Plapp and Jayco-AIUIa teammate Chris Harper took off out to a tandem ride at Australia’s Road National Championships with more than 100km to go, the only question that was left was which of the two will claim the title?

"Plappy was obviously going for three in a row, which is pretty special so I was quite happy to see him win. But to be honest, he was probably riding stronger anyway," said Harper. "The last couple of laps I was hurting a bit up the climb and he was still riding strong so he probably deserves it."

"The important thing today was to bring the jersey back to the team and so as long as one of us was in the jersey that’s all that matters," Harper said, after the team not only took the title but delivered a clean sweep of the podium thanks to Kelland O'Brien also securing third.

Still, with the form Harper is showing – walking away with both second in the time trial and second in the road race this year – even though his first win since 2019 didn’t come on Sunday, it could well be just around the corner.