Patrick Eddy claims Australian road title in revenge after strange ride by Jayco AlUla

The new Australian champion in the elite men’s category is Patrick Eddy. The 23-year-old rider was not offered a contract extension by Picnic PostNL this winter, then signed with Team Brennan, and now delivers the continental team the biggest victory in its history.

Three days after the Australian time trial championships (won by Felicity Wilson-Haffenden and Jay Vine), it was time for the road races on Sunday. Around the well-known city of Perth, a very tricky course was laid out, featuring a fair amount of climbing. Nowhere was it really steep, but the series of climbs could turn into a real attrition battle.

Strong breakaway with several top riders
In the men’s race, an early breakaway of as many as fourteen riders formed, including some well-known names. Defending champion Luke Durbridge decided not to wait for the finale and threw his hat in the ring early on. The hard-working Jayco AlUla rider was joined by sprinter Sam Welsford, Chris Harper, and Ben O'Connor among others.

In short, the peloton had its work cut out from an early stage, but the gap between the groups still grew to around five minutes. This spurred several riders to launch counterattacks in hopes of bridging across, but these moves ended up being nothing more than futile chases.

Durbridge goes solo, Plapp chases behind teammate
At the head of the race, the first skirmishes appeared. With forty kilometers to go, Durbridge saw his chance to slip away. The Jayco AlUla rider quickly opened up a one-minute gap on his fellow escapees, who were mostly busy marking each other. This worked in favor of the peloton, as with 20 kilometers remaining, the groups were brought back together.

Ok, Plapp is working behind Durbrige. We have some fun, thank God!#RoadNats26 pic.twitter.com/4hG8Gi3P5T

— Mihai Simion (@faustocoppi60) January 11, 2026

At that moment, only Durbridge was still riding alone up front, but his lead was down to just under two minutes. However, this was not enough to stay clear of the first chasing group, where Luke Plapp—Durbridge’s teammate at Jayco AlUla—was very active. Thanks largely to Plapp’s accelerations and leading turns, the exhausted Durbridge was caught in the final five kilometers.

Painful defeat for Jayco AlUla
Jayco AlUla still held the better cards at that point—since they had a numerical advantage—but they could not capitalize on it in the finale. It was Patrick Eddy of the modest Team Brennan who managed to keep Plapp at bay in a sprint for the Australian road title. The 23-year-old rider thus secured the biggest victory of his young career in Perth, after learning late last year that his place was no longer available at Picnic PostNL.

They were 3 vs 1 and they managed to lose. After 2015 Omloop het Nieuwsblad and 2025 Dwars door Vlaanderen, today we had another tactical disasterclass. Hats off, Jayco-AlUla.#RoadNats26 pic.twitter.com/zvbdODsNgy

— Mihai Simion (@faustocoppi60) January 11, 2026