Australia has announced that an injured Luke Plapp will be replaced by Western Australian rider Ben O’Connor in the men’s road race at the Olympic Games on Saturday August 3.
Plapp, who crashed in the men’s individual time trial on Saturday and had abdominal surgery later that night, was set to race in a support role for Michael Matthews, alongside Simon Clarke but remains in hospital following the hard fall, necessitating a change of plan.
The rider, who has both a Tour de France and Giro d’Italia stage victory on his palmarès, had been preparing for the Vuelta a España when he was pulled into the team for the 273km event, where Matthews is among the favourites.
It will be O’Connor’s first Olympic Games as he replaces Plapp on medical grounds.
Plapp,, who raced in Tokyo on the track, came down after delivering a strong performance in the opening stages of the wet time trial. He posted the fourth best time at the first checkpoint at 13km into the 32km race against the clock.
“Luke is receiving the best of care in hospital and is being well supported by our medical team,” said Meares. “We expect he’ll be out of hospital this week and wish him a speedy recovery.”