Three years ago, an important win in Rovesal at the Santos Festival of Cycling accelerated the momentum of a domestic season that propelled Luke Plapp to the World Tour.

On Wednesday, rider Jayco Alura, inspired by his performance in 2021, went for his first WorldTour win in Rovesal.

A strong attack by Plapp on Fox Creek, the final climb of stage 2 with less than 10km to go, caused a string of riders to drop out, including Julien Alaphilippe (Sourdal-Quickstep). With less than 10km to go, Plapp dropped one rider after another, including Julien Alaphilippe (Sourdal-Quick Step).

"To be honest, I watched that replay a lot last week, and I focused on this stage a lot leading up to here," the Australian champion said in Lobesar.

"I've had a few recalls and I really like that climb. ...... It's just unfortunate that Johnny [Honatan Narvaez], who is probably one of the fastest in the bunch, was there."

Had it been almost any one of the other 138 riders in the Tour Down Under peloton, the move might have had a chance. However, Plapp and Jaco-Aroura were not allowed to take bonus seconds or open up a time gap to Narvaez, who clearly showed his speed in the group sprint at the Down Under Classic on Saturday.

"There were two athletes who were told they couldn't run together, and that was Corbin (Strong) and Johnny.

"If he hadn't been there, ...... but he's a top-notch player.

Narvaez's presence forced Plapp to sit up and point to his earpiece to indicate that he had been told not to work with the Ineos Grenadiers rider, who had been his teammate a month earlier.

Narvaez was clearly frustrated by the Australian's decision not to help solidify the gap with the move he had initiated. The first thing Plapp did upon returning to the team area was to go straight to the Ineos Grenadiers' vehicle, which was parked alongside Jaico Aroura, and explain the tactics.

"There was a little bit of language going on down there.

"I was just trying to let him know I wasn't going to be a jerk to him because they're really good buddies and he's a really nice guy." Plapp's stage tactics were not intended to help his former team, but to help his new team win.

Jayco Aroura entered the opening round of the Australian World Tour as the favorite to win, with three strong, in-form climbers in Simon Yates, Plapp, and Chris Harper.

In short, the Australian team went into the race with the attitude that it was more important not to lose time than to gain a few seconds ahead of a weekend in which the race would conclude with the climbs of Willunga and then Mount Lofty.

"At the end of the day, our options are better suited to the climb, and without an uphill finish it's difficult," Matt Hayman, sport director of Jayco Alura, told Cycling News

before the stage start in Norwood.

"They're probably not the fastest of the small group, but they start on the Norton summit and they're ready to race and in pretty good shape. Plapp and Narvaez did not have it. Plapp had to put the brakes on his attack and may have missed his first race target of the year after winning both the time trial and the road race at the Australian championships earlier this month.

"In the end I think it was a really good day," he said.

"I'm really happy with my climbing legs. We are seeing good signs for Saturday and Sunday and I think we are getting really strong as a team."

Caleb Yuan, a sprinter from Jaco-Aroura, was sick early in the race and finished fourth after running out of steam in the first stage, but on the final climb, stage 1 winner Sam Welsford (Beulah Hansgrohe) and Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious) and other rivals could not make the climb.

Ewan finished fifth in a stage where the group was reduced by an attack by winner Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates).

"If Caleb overcomes that and competes in the sprint, it clearly shows that he is ready to ride again tomorrow and has overcome yesterday," Plapp said.

"But me, Simon, and Harps are still on GC and have two days of sprints ahead of us.

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