Ineos Grenadiers has signed Australian Luke Plapp, the
20-year-old track and TT rider who has been tipped for great things for some
time.
Plapp has done most of his racing in Australia,
especially over the past two years when the pandemic has limited travel
opportunities out of that country.
However, when he has raced abroad it’s been at major
events and his potential has been clear.
In 2018 he was junior Austrian champion and Oceanic
champion in the TT. He then went to the World Championships and took 2nd in the
junior TT, behind Remco Evenepoel.
Last year he won the Australian U23 TT title and earlier
this year he won the elite TT title, comprehensively beating four-time champion
Luke Durbridge (BikeExchange).
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Plapp is representing Australia at the Olympic Games at
present, on the track. He joins Ineos Grenadiers from August 1st as a stagiaire
and will then ride for the team full-time on a multiyear contract from the
start of next year.
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Ineos Grenadiers
director of racing, Rod Ellingworth, believes Plapp is the next top rider who will make the
transition from a TT and track background into the pro peloton in Europe.
“Here at
the team we have a history of developing track riders into world class road
racers, like what we have done with
Bradley (Wiggins) and Geraint (Thomas),” he said.
Plapp said while
he had not “done a whole
lot of racing over in Europe”, meaning he had never ridden on cobbles, for
example. However, he believed climbs of up to 20 minutes and TTs would suit
him.
“I think
I’ll be an all-rounder,” he said. “But
that’s what the first few years are all about, getting to know what you’re
going to be good at, and what suits me and the kind of role I can play in the
team.”
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