Worst Football Tactics – January 2024

Jayco-AlUla is kicking itself after a tactical bonfire torched Australia’s lone WorldTour team’s chances to defend the elite men’s national road title.

One rider’s celebration is often another’s cringe moment, but this time it was the entire Jayco-AlUla team left with pie on their face.

Ex-WorldTour pro Patrick Eddy cashed in on a colossal strategic blunder by Jayco-AlUla’s Luke Plapp late in Sunday’s race that could be one of the season’s biggest face-palm moments, and we’re just days into 2026.

Eddy — whose contract with Picnic-PostNL was not renewed at the end of last year — stunned the pre-race heavyweights Jayco-AlUla to take a stunning and controversial victory.

“This means everything. I have pretty much won nothing since I won junior nationals, and I lost myself as a rider for the last few years. I’ve found myself again,” Eddy said. “I haven’t won anything since 2019, and I started to forget what it was like to win a bike race.”

In an embarrassing screw-up over the closing laps, Jayco-AlUla managed to unravel what had looked like a near-lock on the national jersey.

Things appeared to be going to script when Jayco-AlUla covered an early major breakaway and positioned defending champion Luke Durbridge off the front alone with three laps to go in the 13-circuit race around Perth.

Durbridge — living up to his “Turbo Durbo” nickname — looked to have the win in his legs.

Perhaps sensing that his teammate was in trouble on the final climb, Plapp broke ranks and decided to bridge across from the lead chase group that also featured Jayco’s Ben O’Connor.

That was the WTF moment now dominating headlines Down Under.

Not only did Plapp violate the unwritten rule of never chasing down a teammate, but he also committed the cardinal sin of dragging some uninvited company along for the ride.

Grabbing the wheel was Eddy from Team Brennan — a small Australia-based outfit racing at the third tier — and the pair swept past a fading Durbridge to set up a two-up sprint for the title.

Plapp couldn’t shake him on the final risers, and Eddy made easy work of Plapp to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

‘I wouldn’t want to be at that dinner table’

And rubbing salt on the wound, the other Jayco AlUla at the front all missed the top 10.

Perhaps not surprisingly, SBS reported that Durbridge was in no mood to talk to reporters at the line.

“We come here to win. It’s a race I want to win every single year,” Plapp sheepishly told reporters. “It’s annoying, and it will hurt.”

The fallout was swift and real for Jayco-AlUla, the WorldTour powerhouse that entered as the overwhelming favorite to claim the national road title on home roads.

Beyond the embarrassment, social media predictably lit up with criticism of the team’s tactics.

After Jayco posted, “Throwing it down on the streets of Perth!”, one sharp retort read, “Throwing it away more like it.” “How to lose a race 101!” another chimed in.

“They went from being in the best position you could be in to the worst, very, very quickly,” said ex-pro Caleb Ewan on Australian TV. “I wouldn’t want to be at that dinner table tonight.”

That said, Eddy and the underdog Team Brennan deserve their share of credit for seizing the moment and winning the jersey.

What a way to start 2026.

Australian national men’s road race

1. Patrick Eddy (Team Brennan) — 3h55:25
2. Lucas Plapp (Team Jayco AlUla) +0
3. Oscar Chamberlain (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) +9
4. Leighton Cook (Falcons Pedal Mafia Racing) +9
5. Matthew Dinham (Team Picnic Post-NL) +9
6. Brady Gilmore (NSN Cycling Team) +9
7. Alastair Christie-Johnston (CCACHE X BODYWRAP) +12
8. Carter Bettles (Roojai Insurance Winspace) +15
9. Alastair Mackellar (EF Education) +22
10. Kane Richards (Roojai Insurance Winspace) +26