“It hasn’t sunk in yet” – Patrick Eddy stuns Team Jayco AlUla to grab shock Australian title

Patrick Eddy did not arrive in Perth as a favourite. He left as the Australian champion. Just days into his first season with continental Team Brennan, the former WorldTour rider produced a perfectly judged sprint to deny Luke Plapp and flip the race on its head in the final few hundred metres.

Team Jayco AlUla looked to have the race locked down when defending champion Luke Durbridge went clear after almost 40 kilometres in the lead. But a late surge from Eddy, Plapp and Brennan teammate Oliver Bleddyn dragged him back inside the final kilometre. From there, Eddy played it cold. He waited, followed, then launched off Plapp’s wheel to seal the elite men’s title.

“I don’t believe that,” Eddy said at the finish. “When the break got that gap, I thought it was done and we were just riding a bit of a Grand Fondo out there. But it all came back together in the last 40 minutes, and I thought I was a bit cooked being outnumbered by the Jayco boys, but… It hasn’t sunk in yet.”

Eddy rode in the WorldTour with Picnic PostNL until the end of 2025, before stepping down to Team Brennan for 2026. Within days of the new season, he has already shown his level has not dropped.

He admitted he thought Jayco had the race won. “I thought they had it with the breakaway, I thought Durbo was going to do it again, but Saundo and Ollie were amazing in that last hour and all day. We’re definitely the new kids on the block,” he said of teammates Tristan Saunders and Oliver Bleddyn.

Behind Eddy and Plapp, Oscar Chamberlain swept through late to take third as Jayco, after controlling much of the finale, were left with medals rather than the title they had set out to win.