Maeve Plouffe went from the excessive of representing Australia on the observe on the Olympic Games in Paris final season to the low of an unsure future on the highway.
The 25-year-old made her Women’s WorldTour debut with DSM-firmenich in 2023 and had hoped her contract with the Dutch squad can be renewed for 2025. Not distracted by the observe objectives on the Games in August of 2024, Plouffe was fast to refocus on ending the highway season with them strongly.
“The Olympics was huge, however I used to be on the bike doing 4 hours the subsequent day,” she informed Cyclingnews earlier than the beginning of the ladies’s Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race on Saturday the place she was racing with ARA Australian Cycling.
“I nonetheless had a giant WorldTour schedule, and I used to be actually desperate to get some good outcomes on the board, and never even for myself, however simply do some good work and get some good highway races. I ended the season fairly properly and on fairly good kind.”
Plouffe wrapped up her 2024 marketing campaign on the Simac Ladies Tour in October, the place teammate Franziska Koch completed second general behind winner Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx – Protime), however the contract extension she hoped for by no means got here.
“I had my low season after which it was a bit little bit of a battle as a result of I did not realise I wasn’t getting a WorldTour contract till fairly late within the season, in order that was a really aggravating finish to my season, making an attempt to scramble round, discover a workforce,” she mentioned.
“I do not know the date precisely, nevertheless it was already when most groups had been full, let’s simply say that I knew it could be aggressive, particularly with a whole lot of groups folding … numerous riders in the marketplace, however I used to be clearly hoping for an extension.”
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Plouffe discovered a lifeline in Hess – a British-registered Continental workforce she hopes to be aggressive in races throughout Belgium and the Netherlands, as she appears to be like to stability highway and observe commitments with a view to the LA Games in 2028. She is on the hunt for a coach who understands that stability however loved being her personal taskmaster by the pre-season and within the lead-up to the Australian summer season of biking, the place she’s been competing with the nationwide composite workforce.
“I’ve simply been my very own coach, doing my very own factor, and having fun with racing. I really feel like I actually wanted that, so I’m proud of my kind right here. It’s not as particular or focused because it might be, however I believe it is simply what I wanted,” she mentioned.
“I wish to be within the sport for a extremely very long time, so I believe it is, like, taking care of myself long-term. And it has been kind of the hole I wanted.”
Plouffe opened the 2025 season on the Santos Women’s Tour Down Under in South Australia, racing with the ARA Australian Cycling Team the place she completed exterior the time restrict on stage three to Stirling.
“That was horrible,” she mentioned of Stirling. “I might love a flat day of TDU. Unfortunately, my dash day I had a mechanical and didn’t have gears for the entire remainder of the race, in order that was my day performed. I used to be fairly unhappy. But everybody tailored and we bought some good outcomes for the workforce.”
Plouffe is as soon as once more serving as a highway captain on the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race for the nationwide squad earlier than a return to Europe that may see her step out with a brand new workforce to proceed her growth on the highway.
“This Belgian, Dutch type racing, even highway racing normally, like, it’s nonetheless considerably new to me,” she mentioned.