Jayco AlUla have confirmed the signing of Luke Plapp, with the Australian national champion signing a four-year deal after ending his contract with Ineos Grenadiers a year early.
Plapp was a multiple national champion at Junior and Under 23 level and confirmed his talents by winning the Australian national time trial title in 2021. He then won back-to-back Australian road race titles in 2022 and 2023 and showed his stage race and climbing potential by finishing second at the UAE Tour.
Jayco AlUla has already added Caleb Ewan, Mauro Schmid, Max Walscheid and neo-pros Davide De Pretto and Anders Foldager to its 2024 roster, with Simon Yates, Michael Matthews, Dylan Groenewegen and Eddie Dunbar as team leaders.
Plapp’s arrival bolsters the Australian contingent in the team and adds a major future talent. He will turn 23 on December 25 and Jayco-AlUla described him as ‘the most Australian thing they could think of’ in a lighthearted announcement.
“It honestly does feel like I’m coming home, I’m such a proud Australian and to now be able to ride for the Australian team, it’s a real honour. I just can’t wait to get started; the next four years are going to be amazing on this team,” Plapp said.
“I can’t thank Gerry Ryan and the team enough for this opportunity. Gerry has done so much for Australian cycling and to now be on his team and to be able to ride for him, it makes me really proud and super grateful. I can’t wait to achieve great things together. It is such a great group of guys and I know so many of them already so I’m really looking forward to kicking things off well in my first race with the team.”
Team owner appears to have made a personal effort to enable the signing of Plapp. The Australian businessman has long bankrolled the team via his different companies.
“There’s no mistaking that Luke has incredible talent, so for us to be welcoming him to our team with a four-year contract is very exciting for everybody involved. We have to thank Gerry Ryan for his commitment to making this signing a reality, as well as our partners AlUla and Giant for their support,” team manager Brent Copeland said.
“Luke is still a very young rider; we are motivated to work with him and have him grow with us as a team into the future. With our strengthened climbing group for the coming season, Luke will have a good support team around him, and we are looking forward to seeing him challenge for general classification success and continue to aim for top results in time trials. As an Australian team, we are already very much looking forward to the national championships in January and seeing if he can defend his road race title for a third year running.”
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