Happy Plappy! Aussie star solos to glory at the Giro

Ian Chadband | May 18, 2025

Six-time Australian champion Luke Plapp has gone it alone to deliver a solo cycling masterpiece and blast to an outstanding maiden Grand Tour triumph on the eighth stage of the Giro d’Italia. 

The 24-year-old from Melbourne made his decisive attack on the 197km mountainous route from Giulianova with 46 arduous kilometres still left to go to the finish in Castelraimondo on Saturday.

Yet his power and huge engine, which had helped him get into the breakaway with 100km left, then enabled Plapp to leave his fellow breakaway riders in the dust on a steep ascent before negotiating two more formidable climbs alone and earn his first ever WorldTour win.

“It’s crazy, crazy!” said ‘Plappy’, the long admired young rider from Australian team Jayco AlUla, putting his hands to his head in almost disbelief as he crossed the line to win by 38 seconds following almost four-and-three-quarter hours in the saddle.

He was the second Australian winner on this 108th Giro, two days after Kaden Groves sprinted to victory in Naples.

Yet this was a victory of a different magnitude, a tour de force that Irish cycling great Sean Kelly suggested on Eurosport was “one for the books … a big, big performance and a huge leap forward for Plapp.”

It also marked a wonderful comeback for the three-time winner of the Australian road race title and triple national time trial champion after his disrupted 2025 campaign when he was out for a month after surgery on his injured wrist. 

He had also crashed on just the second stage of the Giro in Albania when flying along on his time trial route. 

“For sure that makes it sweeter. From the Olympics last year (where he also crashed in a wet time trial) to surgery in February and now crashing at the first TT, it makes everything worth it,” he said.

“The lows in cycling are super, super low, and there’s a long time between highs, so to have a result like this is amazing.

“I’ve just never been able to make a result happen in Europe. Last year, I got so close at the Giro so many times, and for today to happen is so, so special. It’s a dream come true.”

The hardest bit, Plapp reckoned, had been to battle his way into the original breakaway and when he looked at his remaining handful of opponents as he neared the end of the Montelago climb with 46km to go, he decided to go on the attack because “I knew I couldn’t beat any of them in a sprint.

“So I knew I had to go early – I just thought I’d give it a crack.”

Wilco Kelderman of Visma-Lease a Bike ended up second but the other big story of the day materialised as XDS-Astana’s Italian hope Diego Ulissi came in third to take the overall leader’s pink jersey from Primoz Roglic.

It left the Italian screaming in delight at learning he was the first Italian to lead his great home race since 2021.

He enjoys a 12-second advantage over compatriot Lorenzo Fortunato and 17 seconds over Roglic, who looked perfectly happy to hand over the responsibility of the jersey. Temporarily, at least.