Lucas Plapp (cycling) competed on both track and road at his first Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, coming away with bronze in the team pursuit. He was also the highest-placed Australian in the men’s road race (6th).

Luke initially attended Maribyrnong Sports Academy on a cricket scholarship but took up cycling aged 12 so he could join his dad on morning coffee rides and to keep fit for cricket and football. His first international success came at the Junior World Championships in Switzerland in 2018 where he claimed the points race and the Madison with Blake Quick.

Plapp made his Olympic debut in Tokyo where he won bronze in the ill-fated team pursuit after Alex Porter’s snapped handlebar robbed the Australians of any hope of gold. A few weeks after his Olympic medal, he won silver in the under-23 time-trial at the world road championships in Belgium. He has also clinched five elite men’s national road titles (time trial 2021, 2024; road race 2022, 2023 and 2024).

Plapp rode with top WorldTour team Ineos Grenadiers in 2022 and 2023 before joining the Australian team Jayco AlUla on a four-year deal in 2024.

He also holds the unofficial world record for the first lap of the team sprint (16.949 secs).