Luke Durbridge wins Australian cycling national road race as three-time defending champ Luke Plapp gifts teammate win

Luke Durbridge claimed his first Australian Men's Road Race Championship title in 11 years, a victory made possible by the selfless act of three-time defending champion Luke Plapp. Durbridge led from the first of 13 laps, initially breaking away with Paris Olympic track gold medalist Conor Leahy before launching a solo attack more than 80km from the finish.

As Durbridge’s solo lead grew to over three minutes, the chasing peloton failed to mount an effective pursuit. However, after three and a half hours of riding, Durbridge began to tire, and Plapp closed the gap, appearing poised to win an unprecedented fourth consecutive title. Instead, Plapp did not pass his Jayco-AlUla teammate, but guided the 33-year-old veteran through the final 13.7km sprint to victory, displaying a moving act of teamwork.

After cresting the final hill side-by-side, Plapp allowed his older teammate to cruise to the finish line, regaining the title he had won back in 2013. “It’s unbelievable, I’m still in shock, it’s one of the proudest moments of my life,” Durbridge said immediately after the race. Top Australian riders including Jai Hindley, Chris Harper and former Giro d’Italia winner Jai Hindley all attempted to chase Durbridge down, but his Jayco-AlUla teammates successfully shut down every attack.

When Durbridge began to flag, Plapp was allowed to attack from the peloton with 15km to go, catching his teammate as the bell rang for the final lap. “I have to thank Luke Plapp at the end, it was looking pretty dire… he’s a true champion. I don’t know what would have happened if he didn’t come up, but he gifted me the win, and I’m very grateful to him. My legs and back were going, and he just said ‘get on the wheel, it’s yours.’ I just had to hang on,” Durbridge said. Liam Walsh finished third, with Harper fifth, Vine sixth, and Hindley ninth.

The race was held in Perth for the first time since 1997, after 18 years in Victoria, and Durbridge’s win was widely celebrated as he grew up in Perth’s eastern suburbs and often trained on those roads. In the earlier women’s race, 20-year-old Lucinda Stewart produced a stunning performance to beat a strong field, winning both the U23 and elite titles. Stewart, from the Liv AlUla Jayco continental development team, won the 109km race in 2hr 46min 59sec in a four-way sprint ahead of former ARA-Skip Capital teammates Ella Simpson, Cassie Boglio and Caitlin Nicholson.

“I’m just speechless, I’m so happy to pull that off,” Stewart said after the race, before heading to Europe on Tuesday to join her new teammates. Stewart is the youngest women’s elite road race champion since Sarah Gigante won at the age of 18 in 2019. A five-rider breakaway group, including Stewart, established a massive lead of over six minutes on the course, launching their attack on the second of eight laps, catching many pre-race favorites off guard. Amber Pate and Amanda Spratt eventually belatedly recognized the threat of the group and started chasing with less than 40km to go.

However, they were only able to cut the lead in half, finishing two minutes and six seconds behind, while Sarah Roy led the rest of the peloton across the line four minutes and 55 seconds behind. “I’m so proud to wear this jersey. I respect my teammates so much, I know how strong they are, and being the only one in the breakaway from our team, I knew I had to make it work, there was no other option. I did feel the pressure … I know how hard the girls work, and I really wanted to win it for them,” Stewart said.

Liv AlUla Jayco team director Gene Bates said he was “a bit surprised” other teams didn’t try to shut the gap down. “It ultimately worked out in our favor, so we couldn’t be happier,” he said.