Plapp claims back-to-back titles

AUSTRALIAN cycling star Luke Plapp has powered clear of his rivals in an enthralling finish to claim his second straight national men’s road race championship in Buninyong on Sunday.

In his second year as a professional, Plapp looked spent midway through the 185.6-kilometre race.

But the 22-year-old Ineos Grenadiers rider dug deep to recover and was involved in a four-way battle on the final lap of the testing circuit.

Plapp attacked multiple times in hot conditions before finally breaking free with little more than one kilometre left in the final straight along Warrenheip Street.

Tour de France stage winner Simon Clarke riding for Israel-Premier Tech finished second, with world championships bronze medallist Michael Matthews on the Jayco AlUla team crossing third.

Drew Morey in Kinan colours came in a credible fourth.

“I didn’t know how to play it today,” Plapp said. “I really just tried to bide my time and I don’t know what happened on that last lap.

“I can’t believe I pulled it off.”

Plapp admitted before the race he was underdone following a pre-Christmas training crash, in which he lost a lot of skin.

He said he tried to pick Clarke’s brains during the Bay Crits last week and drew on that experience in the closing stages of the national championships.

“I knew having him there I had to race really smart and try to think what he would do,” Plapp said.

“I was almost lucky that Bling [Matthews] was there because they all looked at him and that gave me the chance.”

Sprint star Caleb Ewan overcame illness that forced his withdrawal from Friday’s criterium to take part in the road race but was not a factor in the finish.

A day before, Queenslander Alastair MacKellar riding for the Israel Cycling Academy team took out the under 23 men’s national championship.

Over the 139.2 kilometre, MacKellar seemed unstoppable, powering through small groups of the fragmented field before launching a major offensive up the Midland Highway and going on to solo to the finish.

Men’s U23 Oceania road race champion Brady Gilmore on ARA Skip Capital claimed silver with Alex Bogna of the Alpecin-Deceuninck Development Team in third.

“I’ve raced this course for a couple of years now and I got a bit worried when the break got out to three plus minutes there, but I knew it’s always the last one or two laps that split this race apart and I knew the legs were good,” MacKellar said.

“When you’re at the breakaway all day, it taxes you, so to be able to save as much energy as I could in the pelo and go as late as I could, you can make a lot of time up on that climb.”

– BY SHAYNE HOPE/ AAP