Plapp soloed in to his first elite road race title victory with a comfortable margin, lapping up the adulation of the crowd and embracing best friend Blake Quick, who the day before had won the men's Under 23 road race. Plapp, 21, himself is still eligible for the age-restricted event, but showed that he has his sights rightly set on larger goals as he produced a dominant win in the elite men's road race with a solo move after playing coy for much of the race.
“That was pretty fun out there," said Plapp. "I felt like a bit of a dick as I sat on, but I played the cards right and I just can’t believe it paid off."
“You get a lot more nervous when a break goes, there was one real moment where I got really worried and had to shut it down on the climb, but apart from that I was happy to sit on the back and bide my time."
Plapp launched his move with a stunning surge with still 30 kilometres to go, leaving behind an elite group that had formed behind lone leader James Whelan (Team Bridgelane). Plapp had over a minute's deficit to Whelan to bridge but he eventually caught Whelan on the final ascent of Mt Buninyong, overtaking him and riding to a landmark win.
“A lot of it was was learning from last year," said Plapp. there were a lot of times with six laps to go, four laps to go that I thought ‘this is the moment’ but after last year, going too early and blowing up I knew I had to risk losing it to win it.”
"Jimmy is a class act and it was good to see him out there. If I couldn’t win I was glad to see him up there."
The 185.6 kilometre race around the familiar Mt Buninyong circuit normally sees the early break playing a vital role in the tactics and formation of the race, but after an attacking start, it was just two riders that formed the move. Kane Richards (ARA Pro Racing Sunshine Coast) and Jean-Pierre van der Merwe (Team Bridgelane) emerged as a split from the early break, forging clear and establishing themselves as the breakaway as the other attackers drifted back to the peloton.
Andrew Friebe and Brendon Green (Cycling Development Foundation) set off to try and bridge from the main group, though they wouldn’t make the front of the race, as the pace settled down into a more sedate tempo.
Conditions on the road heated up over the afternoon and the race itself was a slow burn as the gap of the two leaders pushed out to a maximum of five and half minutes. Josh Wilson (Velofit) tried his own attack, which was similarly stuck in no-man’s land as the peloton began to up the pace and bring the race back to the two leaders, with Oliver’s Real Food Racing and Nero Continental shouldering the majority of the responsibility for chasing.
Some skirmishing among the top riders began with just over 100 kilometres remaining in the race, with Chris Harper (Jumbo-Visma) prominent. An attack from Sam Jenner (Team Bridgelane) and Mark O’Brien (Inform TMX MAKE) saw the riders heading across the dwindling gap between the lead pair and the peloton.
O’Brien and Jenner caught the leaders with 82 kilometres remaining, with an elite group of eight joining soon after meaning that the leaders were now threatening to ride all the way to the finish. Lucas Plapp (INEOS Grenadiers) sensed the danger and lead a group from the peloton over to the leaders on Mt Buninyong with 79 kilometres to go and by the end of the climb most of the pre-race favourites in with a shot as part of the front group.
James Whelan (Team Bridgelane) tried a tentative attack over the top of the climb with 78 kilometres to go, with Jenner, Chris Hamilton (Team DSM), Brendan Johnston and O’Brien joining the former WorldTour rider at the front of the race. The quintet established a new order at the front of the race, steadily pushing out to a minute’s lead over the course of the next few laps.
That lead wasn’t to last as Rohan Dennis (Jumbo-Visma) took to the front of the peloton to bring teammate Chris Harper back into contention. The peloton re-made the junction with front five and the race was down to 15 riders vying for the win with still 52 kilometres to race.
Lionel Mawditt (St George Continental) snuck away off the front of the main bunch, with Jenner sling-shotting his way off the front to join him at the front. They pushed their lead beyond the minute mark, which prompted an attempt from James Whelan to bridge across with 40 kilometres remaining.
Luke Durbridge (BikeExchange-Jayco) used that as his cue to try an attack himself and while he made headway, it was Whelan who was surging ahead, catching and dropping the leaders, establishing himself as the leader on the road with 33 kilometres left, churning his way up the climb as he grew his lead out to a minute and 20 seconds.
Plapp put in a big attack with 30 kilometres to go, flying clear of the group chasing Whelan in pursuit of the leader. He initially made a lot of headway but that progress stalled on the climb, with Whelan still holding a 40-second lead at the top of the climb.
Behind from the main group, Johnston launched a move, meaning the first three riders on the road were all solo.
2021 Elite Men’s National Time Trial champion Plapp put his time-trialling skills on display through the back half of the course to bring Whelan to within 12 seconds as they started the final lap of the race.
It was a grinding final effort from Plapp as he inexorably caught up to Whelan, accelerating past a fatiguing Whelan on the steepest section of the climb to go clear at the front of the race, with Whelan unable to muster any more energy to match the young sensation.
From there it was a procession for Plapp to the finish as he continued to drive home his advantage, celebrating in the final kilometres with victory ensured. His time in his INEOS colours for the 2022 season will be brief, with the Australian national championships jersey to adorn the shoulders of the young Australian sensation in his first full season as a professional.
Whelan and Johnston both saluted the crowd as they crossed the line individually for second and third respectively, filling out the podium in career-best results for the pair in the nationals road race.
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