Luke Plapp had promised a few surprises as he challenged for the Tour de Romandie lead -- but sadly for the Australian champion, the surprise turned out to be him enduring a serious off-day in the cold and wet of the Swiss race's time trial.
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Plapp had been in buoyant mood after a lovely day and a rousing ride in the mountains on Thursday as he roared into third place overall and looked forward to perhaps taking the leader's yellow jersey in Friday's 15.5km race against the clock - his specialist discipline.
The 23-year-old national time trial champion had declared confidently on the eve of the third stage: "I'm really happy with my legs ... There's a few new surprises to come as well tomorrow which I'm very interested and keen to show you guys. I can't wait - it's going to be a really exciting day for me."
Alas, the weather, wet and cold, proved very different in the time trial around Oron by the time Plapp got the worst of the conditions among the late starters and main GC hopes.
It turned out that Plapp's 'surprise' was a new time trial bike unveiled by his Australian Jayco AlUla team but any advantage was neutralised by the increasingly slippery conditions as he finished a disappointing 27th fastest on the day.
Melburnian Plapp finished 58 seconds behind US stage winner Brandon McNulty, who had the best of the kinder conditions earlier in the afternoon.
It dropped Plapp from third place to seventh overall, now 33 seconds behind the new leader, Spain's Juan Ayuso, a teammate of McNulty at UAE Team Emirates, who finished fourth in the time trial.
Fellow Australian Jai Hindley (BORA-hansgrohe), 42nd in the time trial, ended up moving up to 21st overall in the GC, 67 seconds off the lead, while compatriot Damien Howson (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) was one place further adrift.
"It was nice. I didn't know what to expect after the last few days. I had a good ride, and maybe I was a bit lucky with the weather. It's nice to have a win," said McNulty.
"I was lucky to be in the dry, and it's a bit strange because you don't know if you were actually the fastest, but always happy with a win."
Australian Associated Press
