"Since the Giro I’ve ridden the TT bike every single day" - Luke Plapp goes all-in for Olympic glory

Luke Plapp, the true underdog for the Olympic Games time-trial? The Australian rider comes in as a contender for the Top10, but out of all the riders who are taking to the start tomorrow in Paris to race against the clock for 32 kilometers solo, Plapp may have been the one to dedicate himself the most for this specific day of racing.

“I ride a bike for the Olympics. That’s the biggest thing for me and what drives me as an athlete and it has done since Tokyo," Plapp admitted in an interview with Cyclingnews. A track specialist simultaneously, it comes as no surprise that Plapp since a young age has had a lot of Olympic ambitions and now he has also stood his ground on the road and will be able to contest for a medal against the elite time-trialists as well.

The 23-year old started off his season with the new outfit of Team Jayco AlUla and very motivated, taking a win at both time-trial and road race nationals. He was forced to abandon the Tour Down Under shortly after but had a very strong Paris-Nice where he briefly led the race and finished sixth. At the Giro d'Italia, he was seventh and fifth in the time-trials, featuring among the best. But he will need a higher level to fight for a medal in a race that includes the likes of Remco Evenepoel, Filippo Ganna and Joshua Tarling.

"We did a lot of wind tunnel testing and testing on the TT bike before Paris-Nice and also before the Giro, so we had one eye on performing in the Giro at the TTs but knowing that that was only going to be beneficial for the Olympics and then now since the Giro I’ve ridden the TT bike every single day actually (this statements dates back from June when the interview was conducted, ed.). I’ll continue to do that all the way up until the Olympics."

Can this pay off? We will find out this Saturday, but it certainly will be an interesting challenge for Plapp who has here the biggest goal of his season.