Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
Luke Plapp and his Jayco AlUla teammates plan to usurp the super teams of Tadej Pogacar and the other favourites on day one at the Tour de France.
Cycling’s biggest race will start on Saturday (Sunday AEST) with a 19.6km team time trial in Barcelona.
The four kilometres of climbing at the end of the stage, coupled with new timing rules, means general classification heavy hitters such as Pogacar are expected to dominate.
In the past, the fourth or fifth rider across the line decided the finishing time for the whole team, but now it will be individual results – meaning teams will stay together until the base of the two climbs at the end of the route and then launch their main contenders to the finish.
The Australian Jayco AlUla team has a rich tradition in team time trials at the three-week Grand Tours.
Then known as Orica-GreenEDGE, they won the stage four TTT at the 2013 Tour de France. Australian star Simon Gerrans became their first rider to wear the yellow jersey as race leader.
Plapp, a three-time Australian individual time trial champion, said they want to carry on that tradition in Barcelona.
“There’s a lot of pride in this team with triple-Ts. We’ve always punched above our weight in the discipline,” Plapp told AAP.
“We’re super excited, we’re quite bullish on what we can maybe achieve.”
A key reason why the TTT piques the interest of Jayco AlUla is that so many of their riders came through the Australian team pursuit squad – including Luke Durbridge, who is riding in his 12th Tour before retirement.
Michael Hepburn, now retired, was another time trial mainstay. Plapp also has a strong team pursuit background and Kel O’Brien was in the squad that won gold in the event at the Paris Olympics.
“We don’t have the big names there, but I’d definitely rather have a Kel O’Brien in my team than almost anyone else in the World Tour.
As Plapp noted, a strong stage-one result would be a big boost for team morale. Jayco AlUla will target stage wins, rather than an overall result.
They have Plapp and compatriot Ben O’Connor for the mountain stages, while Michael Matthews and Swiss Mauro Schmid will be their options for less-hilly days.
“After the triple-T, which is the big goal, it’s working out what stages Pogacar and those guys are willing to let the breakaways go up the road,” Plapp said of the Slovenian defending champion and four-time Tour winner.
As always, Australia will have a strong Tour presence. Along with Jayco AlUla’s five Aussies, 2022 Giro d’Italia Jai Hindley will be a key lieutenant for Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) and Florian Lipowitz (Germany) at Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe.
Rob Stannard is in the Bahrain Victorious team, with Chris Harper and Damien Howson supporting British star Tom Pidcock at Pinarello Q36.5
Michael Storer (Tudor) finished seventh at this year’s Giro d’Italia.
Sebastian Berwick won the 2026 Tour of Turkey and rides for Caja Rural-Seguros RGA, a wildcard entry.
