Chapman, Plapp aim to continue local time trial reigns

Roger Vaughan | January 8, 2026

They kicked butt in Kigali and they shone in Bright – now Brodie Chapman and Luke Plapp will be the elite riders to beat on Thursday at the Australian road cycling championships.

Chapman and Plapp have established themselves as Australia’s top time trial specialists and they will defend their national crowns on day two of the Perth championships.

But given the Australian championship is the first time trial of the year, it can throw up surprise results.

Chapman had an unexpected glitch on race eve, missing Wednesday’s pre-event media conference because of a bike problem.

She also is expected to face a serious challenge on Thursday afternoon from emerging rider Felicity Wilson-Haffenden, the 2023 world junior time trial champion.

Plapp will then start last as defending men’s champion against a field featuring Grand Tour stars Jay Vine and Ben O’Connor.

The men’s field will also feature Oliver Bleddyn and Kelland O’Brien, who are half of the Australian quartet that won the team pursuit gold medal on the track at the Paris Olympics.

Chapman won the national time trial title for the first time last year, after finishing runner-up the previous year to Paris Games gold medallist Grace Brown.

Plapp has won the last two national championships in the discipline and has three in total, while Vine claimed it in 2023.

Plapp, Chapman, Vine and Wilson-Haffenden were in the Australian team that successfully defended the mixed relay crown last September at the world road championships in Kigali, Rwanda.

Plapp and Chapman ended their 2025 campaigns last month by taking out the Tour of Bright, a low-key but popular event in the Victorian high country.

The women’s time trial will run in the early afternoon over 29.3km – three laps of the circuit at the High Performance Centre in Mount Claremont.

The men will follow and will race against the clock over four laps, or 39.1km.

Connor Wright and Neve Parslow won Wednesday’s junior time trials on day one of the nationals, while William Holmes took out the men’s under-23 event.