INTERVIEW Luke Plapp | "I haven't even looked at the stages" - Australian on Tour de France debut, post-Giro preparation and support for Ben O'Connor
Cycling
Team Jayco AlUla are coming to the Tour de France supporting Ben O'Connor's GC ambitions and Dylan Groenewegen's sprinting goals. Stage wins, however, should be the priority - and with a rider like Giro stage winner Luke Plapp on board, they very well might. CyclingUpToDate has caught up with the 24-year old in Lille.
Plapp won stage 8 of the Giro d'Italia and abandoned the race on stage 17. Being at the Tour de France wasn't in his plans, he was surprised in June when he got the call. "There wasn't enough time to do any altitude camps or anything by the time I found out. So, I was just back home and we actually did motor pacing almost every single day leading up to here. So, yeah, I mean it was nice having the Giro in the legs," Plapp said in words to CyclingUpToDate and Cyclingnews.
"You don't have to chase those long rides or chase fitness. It's more about fine-tuning and getting some really good efforts in. Also it's been super hot lately. So, yeah, it's almost been just shorter rides and more high-intensity which is always easy to get on the bike," he explains. "Just smash yourself for three hours and come home and relax. So, I definitely feel like I've taken another step since the Giro having that in the legs".
Plapp, a winner at the Tour of Hellas also earlier this spring, has been racing a lot this year - 37 race days in the bag before the Grand Depart - but he enjoys that his Tour debut will come without pressure. "And I think it's probably the first time I've been really ready for a Grand Tour of the Giro where I was able to go into it and not be stuffed every single day and really come out of it and soak it up rather than in a hole as such".
"So, yeah, I'm really looking forward to see how that goes and then also just having another Grand Tour in the legs too in a year. Hopefully, I can take a massive step out of that for the future". In the northern French city, he quite enjoyed his first contact with the Tour's audience on Thursday afternoon:
"Yeah, it was special. It's big. There's definitely a lot more people, a lot more media around. And I guess everyone tells you the Tour is a circus and it is crazy and you sort of never understand it until you're here. So, to see all the media here, it definitely is another level. So, yeah, I'm just looking forward to it. I mean, none of that media or the outside stress really does anything to me. I quite enjoy it. So, it's just a great atmosphere and I'm really looking forward to getting stuck in".
Plapp's biggest power is his ability to do long solo moves. Breakaways are, on paper, where he has the best chances of giving the Australian team success. However, he is looking to support O'Connor and Groenewegen through a tricky first week where both will have specific days where they need to spend a lot of time close to the front of the race.
"I'd love to just help where I can. I think in the first 10 days, it would be sort of maybe trying to give Durbo (Luke Durbridge, ed.) a break on the front and doing some work on the front to set Dylan up for the sprint days. If there's some opportunities in the first two weeks, definitely I'll try and take them. And then if not, I'd really like to see how I can go in the mountains and support Ben".
He is also eager to test himself as a luxury domestique, of course if O'Connor is in position to contest for the top spots at the Tour. "I mean, I've never even really raced these top guys before at stage races either. So, I'm really looking forward to hopefully having a couple of days where I can really go deep in the mountains to support Ben and just test myself to see where that level is at and know where I need to build for the future".
Plapp comes into the race relaxed, maybe even too much he admits: "I haven't even looked at the stages to be honest," he laughed. "I mean, if you asked me that before the Giro, I knew every stage that I think was a potential to be a breakaway, ones I could do well here. I haven't even looked past day one. I just know day one's a sprint and I mean, you can make and break your Tour on day one, I think, if we can win the sprint with Dylan and get the yellow jersey, then anything else after that's a success".
The 24-year old is looking to race this Tour day by day. "So, yeah, just make the most of tomorrow and then look towards every other day after that and how I can help the guys and for sure if Matthew Hayman says in the morning I can go for the breakaway and he thinks it's a good day, then I'll jump in it and take those chances, but I would never be able to tell you what those days are and what they look like yet".
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
claps 0visitors 0
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- Ernesto Maggioni - The president of the commissaires Mafia. It is getting evident that this guy is basically "Iamalwaysrightandyouarestupidsoiwontlistentoyou" kind of guy. So fire him so that he can be always right in his homeabstractengineer10-11-2026
- Somehow it has got into his mind that he is a GC rider. He is primarily a classics and stage rider who can perform on GC given his day. As a result he is wasting his time on TDF GC and once committed to GC you are too tired to do anything else.abstractengineer10-11-2026
- 🐐❤️Lozza09-11-2026
- This is such a black eye to women's professional cyclocross if this result remains. Marie Schreiber won this race fairly. This finish is not unlike others in cyclocross. Lots of moving around to get to the finish not to cut anyone off , but to generate a sprint on soft wide tires caked with mud and sand. This is not nearly the same as a road race between two riders sprinting to the finish on faster bikes and thinner firmer tires. The powers in charge need to use some common sense, reverse this result and remember this is Cyclocross not Road racing. Unbelievable. . .Zencycle09-11-2026
- Tis beyond your comprehension fine sir so best not to look on with blind eyes to THE GOATS greatness.
Brucegel09-11-2026 - McNulty winning was beneficial in ensuring the rainbow jersey would not remain winless
Front24209-11-2026 - Eccelente! That's 7 riders in total in Red Bull who come from the devo team, 8 if you include Lipo
Rafionain-Glas09-11-2026 - again, nothing is going to be resolved. it is a discussion board. I simply said I didn't see how MS impeded LBs sprint. the UCI doesn't care about my thoughts, and I am really not that emotionally invested in it.mij09-11-2026
- provoke change, lol. this is a discussion board. nothing is going to change by what I say here. just commenting that it didn't look like MS impeded Brand. beyond that not trying to go too deep.mij09-11-2026
- as excellent as maga rednecks chloe dygert (and quinn simmons)?Ketterechts09-11-2026
Loading
2 Comments