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Olympic Men's Time Trial: Plapp the lone Aussie contender

The Men's individual time trial at the Olympics takes place on Saturday 27th July and features Luke Plapp as Australia's sole representative.

A stacked field means Plapp is long-odds to bring home a surprise medal, but his record against the clock made him the standout selection for the berth.

The 23-year-old is due to compete at his second Games and will also partner Simon Clarke as one of Michael Matthews' support riders when 51.00 'Bling' goes for gold in the road race on Saturday 3rd August.

Plapp heads to Paris in confident mood

Plapp might be out at 301.00 in the betting, but he can afford to be quietly confident about doing something special in Paris.

After being part of the bronze medal-winning endurance squad on the track in Tokyo, he has adapted well in his transition to the road and enjoyed a strong 2024.

Riding for Team Jayco-AIUla, he eventually came home 52nd overall in May's Giro d'Italia, wearing the white jersey after finishing seventh on the stage seven TT, beating eventual third place Geraint Thomas among a host of big names.

He was then fifth in the second TT, a place behind Thomas on that occasion.

That built on the promise of his sixth-placed finish overall at March's Paris-Nice, wearing the yellow jersey for a couple of days, and there are realistic hopes that he could become a genuine all-rounder.

Time trialling remains his speciality and he won the Australian TT championships for the second time in early January, three days before adding the road crown for the third year in a row.

The route in Paris is perhaps a bit flat for his characteristics but if Plapp's on a good day, he might go better than his odds suggest.

Tarling a genuine GB gold hope

That said, the 32.4km route, starting from Invalides and finishing with a 5km straight run-in to the Pont Alexandre III, is designed for the real big, hard-riding rouleurs, with Team GB's Josh Tarling the 1.72 favourite.

The European champion is only 20 but is almost the perfect prototype for this discipline. He stands 1.94m and weighs 78 kg, which makes him physically huge for a cyclist and enables him to power out the watts.

Tarling has had a good season. He won the TT at O Gran Camino and finished second to Remco Evenepoel at the Criterium du Dauphine before defending his British title.

His age means Ineos Grenadiers are understandably managing the number of races he is competing in, but he should be fresh to go, as should his colleague Filippo Ganna of Italy, who is 3.75.

Two-time world TT champion Ganna is another who starred on the track in Tokyo, forming part of the Italian team that won the team pursuit and, like Tarling, has the physique to smash around the Parisian parcours.

He won the second time-trial at the Giro and backed it up by retaining his Italian title before finishing second to another Aussie, Cameron Rogers, in the TT at the Tour of Austria.

Ganna is another who is warming up but so is the reigning world champion, Evenepoel. He beat the best in the first ITT at the Tour de France before recording a third in the final day race against the clock from Monaco to Nice.

The Belgian is the opposite of Tarling and Ganna, himself 1.93m and 82kg, in that he is just 1.71m and 61kg.

A look at him makes you suspect he was soaking wet when that weight measurement was done, but his petite proportions help him limit leaking energy and his ability to fold into a perfect position has earned him the nickname of 'Aerobullet'.

Evenepoel is also 3.75 and the top three are way out in the odds, with his compatriot Wout van Aert fourth in the market at 34.00.

Van Aert was sixth in Tokyo before winning silver on the road, but a crash at March's Dwars door Vlaanderen has tarnished his season, and he might gain more success in the road race.

The arduous and undulating 273km route suits him and he is 9.00 to go one better than three years ago.

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