Luke Plapp delivered Team Jayco AlUla a fantastic victory on stage two of the International Tour of Hellas. The 24-year-old Australian beat Harold Martin López in a sprint-a-deux in the 177km stage in Greece.
For Plapp, the win is a big boost as the International Tour of Hellas is the Australian’s first race back after surgery in early February.
During yesterday’s stage, Team Jayco AlUla came agonizingly close to victory with Dylan Groenewegen (2nd), and today, turned things around with a blistering move off the front of the bunch to victory, giving the team every reason to celebrate.
After the break of the day was caught, the race fans were treated to an attractive finale with numerous attacks. On the final climb to Arachova (21.6km, 3.9% average gradient), Plapp closed the gap to two leaders before going on the attack himself. The 24-year-old had López behind him who managed to join the Australian just two kilometres from the finish line.
Plapp proved to have recovered sufficiently from his efforts in the short remainder of the stage to beat the Ecuadorian in a sprint.
The win marks the Australian’s first victory in Europe and moreover, a great success coming already in his very first race back after his early-season injury.
Plapp now leads the points and mountains classification and occupies second place in the general classification. The International Tour of Hellas will continue until Sunday.
Luke Plapp – Stage 2 winner
“This win means a lot to me. The season started with a setback, which put me out of racing for a while. To take this win straight away in the first race after my comeback gives me a very good feeling and a lot of motivation for the rest of the Tour of Hellas and the other races ahead.”
“We played the game perfectly as a team today. In the first part, while the break had a gap of a few minutes, we kept control every time. We knew this stage was all about the final climb. Luckily my legs were still good enough to push out a firm sprint at the end.”
2025 International Tour of Hellas stage 2 results:
1. Luke Plapp (Team Jayco AlUla) 4:37:39
2. Harold Martin López ST
3. Marcin Budzinski + 00’09
General Classification after stage 2:
1. Harold Martin López
2. Luke Plapp + 00’03 (Team Jayco AlUla)
Photo: Sprint Cycling
