Luke Tuckwell's first Grand Tour was a three-week apprenticeship. He rode the Vuelta a España as Primož Roglič's climbing support, spent most of it on his wheel, and came out the other side named in Australia's team for his first elite world championships. He's 22.Roglič wanted him sitting behind rather than leading, which turned out to be the better classroom - Luke could watch where a nine-time Grand Tour podium finisher puts himself in a bunch, and when he spends energy and when he doesn't. By the final week the two of them had stopped needing to speak. He also gets into what Roglič passed on off the bike, the bus conversations, and why a rider that decorated was still thanking his teammates on stage 21.Then Montreal. Luke wasn't expecting selection, what Matt Hayman told him about bringing young riders through early, and a very honest answer on why the green and gold never moved the needle at junior and U23 level — and why it does now. Plus why he thinks a chaotic race suits an Australian team without a superstar.And the road that got him there: the Simon Clark message in 2021, an Italian team where nobody spoke English, learning how to train in Girona, and the night at the Baby Giro when Red Bull said his results didn't match his power numbers.

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