"It's impossible" - Luke Plapp dismisses the idea of Giro d'Italia starting in Australia

The Grande Partenza of this year's Giro d'Italia from Albania was already very much discussed, but the event went on rather smoothly. Just a week later, rumours already emerge that the Corsa Rosa could start in an even more exotic country in 2027. But Australia seems a tad bit too excessive (and far away), right?

"I've seen it, it's impossible," home rider Luke Plapp put it succinctly when speaking to Cyclingnews. "I'd love to race in Australia, it would be awesome to have family and friends there, but I'm not reading into it too much. I think it's going to be very hard to ever happen."

The proposal suggested by Australian journalist Michael Tomalaris in his report at Sporza assumes a Grande Partenza would take place near the city of Perth. "Western Australia is the only place you could physically have it to be able to get riders somewhat into Italy a day later," Plapp agreed.

But there are several barriers, not just logistics. Plapp feels like the event wouldn't get the recognition it'd deserve. "One, I don't think the money from Australia is probably worth going there, I don't think it's going to attract crowds like you see in Italy, they're not going to be as special."

And then there is of course the matter of logistics. While you can theoretically travel over from Australia to Italy during a rest day, Plapp highlights that even for him as a "regular traveller" it usually takes about a week to get accustomed to the jetlag that comes with such travel. And he doesn't even want to imagine what would the racing look like in such scenario.

"You can't finish a stage on a Monday and get all the riders to Italy the next day and think there's not going to be jet lag or that it's not going to be dangerous riding in the bunch. I think people are going to be pretty smashed," he said.

"I think logistically it doesn't work. If you're going to change it and have a double rest day, for sure you can get there on time, but then jet lag is still going to be a thing. It's just not going to make sense unless they have a drastic change in how you programme the Giro. It's not going to be a one-day rest day, that's for sure," Plapp said.

"To be honest, the greatest race on the programme is already in Australia with Tour Down Under, we don't need to put another race there," he said. "We'll just get Pogi [Tadej Pogačar] and Jonas [Vingegaard] and the boys to come Down Under, it's going to be bigger than if the Giro started there."

"I think the Australian fans get around Down Under, and the vibe that Adelaide offers more than anything else. We don't need anything else, just make Down Under as big and as good as it already is. That's what's embedded in the Aussie calendar at the moment, and it's massive."