A-Levels, angry sportive riders, and forgetting your gloves at Paris-Roubaix: A beginner’s guide to racing in Europe and the fight to become a pro cyclist

“It was a nice time out on my last ever Paris-Roubaix,” Patrick Casey laughs, somewhat ruefully, from a sun-kissed bench perched on a small hill overlooking the Vélodrome André-Pétrieux.

100 kilometres or so to the south, Mathieu van der Poel and company are busy fighting for position ahead of the Arenberg Forest and its hotly debated safety chicane, an hour and a half before the world champion put on the afterburners and ripped the field to shreds to secure his second consecutive Paris-Roubaix.

And after wincing at Casey’s battered, blistered hands and learning of the three crashes that scuppered his race, it’s not difficult to believe the young, fresh-faced Irish rider when he vows never to return to the jagged, brutal cobblestones of the Hell of the North.

Around 20 minutes earlier, the 18-year-old had raced, alone, into the famous outdoor velodrome in Roubaix – as a steady stream of fans flocked to that decaying yet deeply alluring trackside ahead of Van der Poel’s rather more feted solo arrival – to finish his first ever crack at the Junior Paris-Roubaix in 30th place, four and a half minutes down on winner Jakob Omrzel.

(Slovenian Omrzel’s victory would be shrouded in social media controversy the following day thanks to a controversial, corner-cutting sprint on the velodrome that left junior world champion and pre-race favourite Albert Philipsen, forced to settle for fourth after brilliantly chasing back on following a disastrous crash, distraught and disconsolate.)

For Casey, 30th on debut at Roubaix represents a more than respectable performance for a rider more closely resembling the flyweight climbers of the grand tours than the sturdy, bulldozing types of Flanders.

It’s especially impressive when you take into account the Irish rider’s crash-heavy final 50km, and the composure he showed on the cobbles as part of an elite group of favourites fighting it out for a win typically viewed as a portent of future classics stardom, claimed over the years by the likes of Tom Pidcock, Mads Pedersen, Jasper Stuyven, and Geraint Thomas.

“No, it wasn’t too bad, actually,” Casey, who rides for Grenke-Auto Eder, the junior development squad for WorldTour outfit Bora-Hansgrohe, tells me nonchalantly from his recently claimed bench beside the team bus, that flippant promise to studiously avoid cobbles in the future now rapidly fading in the unseasonably warm Roubaix air.

“I kind of found that only the more serious sectors, the four stars and five stars, really felt like you were racing on cobbles. I think the easier sectors, when you hit them at race speed given the tailwind today, really weren’t too bad at all,” he notes.

“Especially given I wasn’t on the front for any of them – well, actually on Mons-en-Pévèle, I was driving the split – when you’re on the wheels with a tailwind like that, you hit them with such speed that the gaps kind of disappear and everything smooths out.”

Easier said than done Patrick, I think to myself, bones still rattling from experiencing the same cobbled sections, albeit from the (relative) comfort of the Grenke-Auto Eder team car’s passenger seat.

“It was just one of those classic days at Roubaix really, a lot of carnage, not a lot of control,” Casey laughs as he, rather casually, ticks off another box on a to-do list he’s quietly confident will one day land him a professional contract.

Two weeks on from his eventful Roubaix debut, the confident, charismatic young Irishman earned himself another definitive tick – this time in Italy, where he combined that slight, climbing frame with his ability to handle the rough stuff (or the “easier” sections, anyway) on the way to finishing third overall at the Eroica Juniores stage race, a four-day event based around Siena and featuring many of the gravel roads made famous by the Strade Bianche classic.

In what was undoubtedly his best performance in Europe so far, Casey even led the Tuscan race for three days, taking the red leader’s jersey after he capitalised on his Grenke-Auto Eder team’s impressive opening team time trial win by making the decisive split and finishing sixth on that afternoon’s road stage.

However, a barrage of attacks on the difficult final day saw Casey crucially miss the winning move, ceding the overall win by just six seconds to Spaniard Héctor Álvarez.

"The last stage was very difficult, and I was constantly attacked by other riders. That made it nearly impossible to win,” Casey said in the wake of his breakthrough performance. “Still, I would say this is the biggest result of my career and hopefully something I can build on in the future. Overall, I’m very satisfied with third place.”

It’s fair to say that the 18-year-old’s first season racing for a European team (he raced on the continent last year for the British Anexo team) has been an eventful, successful one so far, as he continues along a well-trodden path to the professional ranks – albeit one that has a decidedly modern, 2020s, Zwift-aged feel to it.

road.cc sat down with Casey at the Junior Paris-Roubaix to discuss his unusual, Red Bull-backed entrance to European racing, his hopes for the future, and the potential long-term effects of pro cycling’s increasingly youthful complexion.

Oh, and why you should always double check which gloves you’ve packed before heading to the one of the hardest races in the world.

Man in demand

As I walk by the team buses, located on a side road a stone’s throw from the Roubaix velodrome, a few minutes after the Grenke-Auto Eder riders finished their final recon of the race route they would face the next day, I quickly realise that, despite the identikit nature of most pro cyclists in this helmets and oversized glasses age, Patrick Casey is fairly difficult to miss.

That highly visible presence, for a junior yet to make a big splash in the European racing scene, is down to two things.

First, unlike the vast majority of his Grenke teammates, Casey is wearing a helmet adorned with the instantly recognisable blue, red, and yellow colours of Red Bull, the energy drink and sporting giant that has slowly crept into the pro cycling world in recent years following successful experiments in football and F1.

Using the easily spotted, billboard-like readiness of bike helmets to great effect, Red Bull has attached its global brand to stars such as Wout van Aert, Tom Pidcock, and Zoe Bäckstedt, ahead of an eagerly anticipated full-on takeover of Bora-Hansgrohe at some point this year (Red Bull’s staff in Roubaix remained tight-lipped over the exact details of when this increased investment in the German team will be confirmed, but all signals point to a pre-Tour de France reveal).

And it’s that Red Bull helmet which means that Casey is already very much a young man in demand.

While his teammates laughed and joked in the sun, the 18-year-old – he reached that landmark just weeks before Roubaix – was greeted at the end of his recon ride by an overly enthusiastic French cycling influencer, who took him aside for a lengthy video interview and some painstakingly choreographed shots of the Irishman, his bike, and the Grenke-Auto Eder team bus.

As the influencer attempted to coax out some of the affable Casey’s admittedly impressive A-Level French (the youngster’s exams are next month) to help promote his channel, I looked on in horror as his cameraman stepped back blindly into the road to get the best shot of this new cycling star.

Fixated on his screen, he narrowly avoided the visibly frustrated drivers of the Visma-Lease a Bike and Liv AlUla Jayco buses, arriving ahead of the finale of the women’s race and doing their best to prevent one of the more unlikely headlines of Roubaix weekend. Casey, all the while, just shakes his head in amusement.

When he’s not entertaining obliviously endangered YouTube cameramen, Casey is, on the one hand, the latest in a long line of ambitious young cyclists from Britain and Ireland – Shay Elliot, Brian Robinson, Kelly, Roche, Millar, Wiggins, Cavendish, Healy, and the rest – who saved up their money, packed up their bike and belongings, and headed to the continent, that mythical world of mountain passes and handsome contracts, to have a stab at becoming a full-time bike racer.

But while that often bumpy path to the pro ranks has evolved over the years, from the DIY character of early forays at exotic French clubs like ACBB, living in cheap lodgings or with enthusiastic, benevolent fans, to British Cycling’s factory-like Academy and the helping hand of the Dave Rayner fund, Casey’s is arguably the most cutting edge of the lot.

The Irish rider was the first graduate, alongside 17-year-old Austrian Anatol Friedl, of the Red Bull Junior Brothers programme, a talent identification programme introduced last year aiming to seek out “the next generation of professional road cyclists” from around the world.

To apply for the scheme, Casey logged his rides on Zwift and Strava, before submitting a video application, which proved enough to see him invited, along with 15 other hopefuls, to a team training camp in Austria.

Following the tests carried out during his week in Austria, Casey’s “resistance to fatigue”, determination, and potential as a GC rider ultimately earned him his spot for 2024 at Grenke-Auto Eder, along with that coveted Red Bull sponsorship deal.

“The programme kind of builds on Bora’s scouting policy – it’s really open door,” the young Irishman, whose accent betrays his upbringing in the north of England, says.

Christian Schrot, Bora-Hansgrohe’s affable but focused head of scouting and development, and the U19 team’s sports director, agrees.

Widespread scouting networks, Schrot tells me on the drive to the Paris-Roubaix Juniors start in Lecelles, have been a fundamental part of Bora’s identity since Ralph Denk founded the amateur Auto Eder team back in 2007, which ultimately led to the elite team’s birth as NetApp three years later.

And this scouting network has clearly paid dividends in recent years, with Luis-Joe Lührs (who rode this year’s elite Paris-Roubaix for Bora), and Cian Uijtdebroeks (now at Visma-Lease a Bike and a bona fide GC contender at just 21) graduating directly from the junior ranks to the WorldTour team, while current Bora neo-pros Emil Herzog and Alexander Hajek also raced as juniors for Auto Eder.

The Red Bull scheme, and its potential global reach, “just mean we really won’t miss anybody good enough,” Shrot says.

For a rider from the British Isles, despite the boom in pro cyclists over the past two decades, Casey certainly sees the benefits of Red Bull’s Zwift-based scouting approach.

“When you’re from Ireland or the UK, and you’re geographically separated from mainland Europe where all the racing’s happening, there’s always going to be that kind of limitation in terms of going across and getting high-level results,” he says. “And domestic results aren’t viewed with the same level of respect.

“So, with their system, with the internet being big part of it, you can just send in numbers, send in data that’s the same anywhere, and be scouted based on your metabolic data and physiological potential. It opens that door even further, and allows people from wherever to be part of the programme.”

Chocolate, girls, and loose handlebars

Following our brief chat at the team bus in Roubaix (after the French influencer had swiftly said his goodbyes), I sit down with Casey in the barren meeting room of a chain hotel, located just off a busy motorway outside the West Flandrien city of Roeselare.

For the past few weeks, this nondescript, very unexotic location – except for the bizarrely situated, and very Flemish-looking, tiny chapel which sits just around the corner from the hotel, beside an underpass – has been the cobbled classics base for a variety of WorldTour teams, including Bora, Arkéa–B&B Hotels, Cofidis, and Astana.

They’ve all bolted across the border to Compiègne by the time I arrived, so Grenke-Auto Eder’s crop of young talent have the hotel to themselves.

And, judging by his relaxed demeanour as he leans back in his chair, it’s clear Casey seems to be enjoying his taste of life as a European racing cyclist, even at a race as daunting as Paris-Roubaix.

“I’m a lot less nervous than I thought I’d be,” he smiles. “We were out here a week ago, doing a smaller race in Belgium that had some cobbles, so we used that as an opportunity to recon the course.

“But on the race weekend, it’s been quite eye opening. And quite positive, if I’m honest. Last time we had a few teething problems, and there were a few changes that needed to be made to the bike set-up, tyre choice, tyre pressure.

“But with the recon we’ve worked all that out and I feel a lot happier and more confident on the cobbles than I did last time. Riding the cobbles really makes you respect the pros, just picturing the speeds they do, watching them absolutely float over the cobbles, and then you go and do it out and do it yourself – and you’re thinking, in no world would I ever be able to do that.”

The wide-eyed, soak-it-all-in approach adopted by the 18-year-old even extended to one of the more bizarre scenes from his week on the Roubaix cobbles.

As the Grenke-Auto Eder lads opted for one last look at the pavè of the Carrefour de l’Arbre and Mons-en-Pévèle, they found themselves in the midst of the Paris-Roubaix Challenge, the annual sportive that takes place on the morning of the women’s race and – as I found out while dodging frite-wielding amateurs and their bikes in the Roubaix velodrome a few hours before the women’s race – features a curious mix of sparkling £10,000 pure racing machines, pristine aero kit, and battered old machines and hairy legs.

And, as Casey notes, some of those amateurs living out their Roubaix dream on the cobbles appeared more than a touch disgruntled at the sight of a bunch of aspiring juniors taking up their valuable (and purchased) road space.

“It was definitely interesting,” Casey laughs. “We got a bit of feedback from a few of the sportive riders who weren’t necessarily too happy with us sharing the cobbles with them. There was a bit of ‘your day’s tomorrow, what are you doing out here?’

“But I’d say most people were quite happy to see us. It’s cool for them, they get photos with the team car or whatever. But yeah, it was quite funny as well, saw a few people disappearing off into the bushes. It was good practice for tomorrow, fighting your way through people and being pushed off your line, it was good fun.”

Angry, muttering sportive riders aside, how is Casey enjoying life with a German team which has not only a keen eye on winning as many races as possible, but also a proven track record of developing its young talent to reach the very top?

“It’s been really good fun since joining the team,” he says. “It’s a nice blend of the real serious, professional side of things, that filters down from Bora – the professionalism, equipment, nutrition, coaching, staff, the support. That’s the real clinical side of things, very polished.

“But it’s also a 16 to 18-year-old bunch of lads, getting away on school weeks, getting back late on school nights, missing school. We’re all still at that age where it’s a lot of fun.”

That blend of the professional and fun elements of bike racing (and knowing when the serious side has to take over) is evident throughout my weekend with the Grenke-Auto Eder team.

As the riders, a lot fresher faced than this bleary-eyed reporter, made their way down to the team cars for the drive down to Lecelles, the small, quaint French border town close to the Arenberg Forest that hosts the start of the Junior Paris-Roubaix, there are more than a few school trip vibes hanging in the air.

Every teenager’s ubiquitous accessory, the mobile phone, is a constant presence during the 50 mile journey south (where some of their parents are eagerly waiting), there’s talk about girls – “I’ve been texting one for a few weeks now, it’s going well,” one rider coyly slips into the conversation, egged on by the booming, lively presence of DS and former pro Tim Meeusen, playing the role of enthusiastic teacher – and the music choices Bluetoothed through the car stereo were, ahem, questionable to say the least. Unsurprisingly, my requests for the Clash, Bob Dylan, and Bruce Springsteen went unheeded.

By the time we reach Lecelles, however, the mood has noticeably shifted.

The team’s staff – who have seen this all before – are relaxed as ever, grabbing coffees and croissants, chatting to parents and old friends, surveying the latest batch of cycling’s top young talent with an enthusiastic eye. “Look at that boy’s legs,” Meeusen chuckles. “They’re huge! He’s going to be a star, I promise you.”

For the riders themselves, however – busy going through their pre-race warm-up ritual before signing on and waving to the assembled crowd, featuring none other than 2004 Roubaix winner Magnus Bäckstedt, in front of Lecelles’ bleak, functional red-brick church – nerves are starting to set in.

Grenke-Auto Eder are, after all, there to win. Theodor Clemmensen, the powerful 17-year-old Dane with the diesel engine, is one of the pre-race favourites (he won only four days beforehand at the Gran Premio del Perdono), but Schrot wants – expects – as many of his riders as possible to be at the front when the decisive moves go.

Returning from his warm-up ride, which amounted to a leg-loosening spin through the town’s backstreets, Casey heads straight to experienced mechanic Frank Wechselberger, who shakes his head fondly as the youngster explains that his handlebars just aren’t on tight enough.

Meanwhile, across the crowded car park, Casey’s fellow Irishman, the highly rated Co Armagh prospect Seth Dunwoody, is a picture of concentration as he warms up on the turbo trainer, headphones on, eyes fixed on the tarmac a metre ahead.

Until, that is, Dunwoody – who rides for Bahrain-Victorious’ development team – attempts to set off for the start line with an Allen key still attached to his front wheel. “Nearly took that for a spin!” the Irish champion, who would end up a strong 11th in the Roubaix velodrome, laughed as he noticed his own rookie error.

Handlebars firmly secured, Casey then set to work wrapping his hands in pink tape, a novel, DIY solution to the biggest problem plaguing his Junior Roubaix debut – he’d left one of his gloves at home.

“Because we’re really well looked after, we actually get two pairs of track mitts,” he tells me. “And in washing them, I’ve put the two right hand gloves together, and the two lefts together. And I’ve brought both right-hand ones.

“The options were one inside out, or no gloves. I tried to make some out of tape, but it hasn’t really worked. After our last recon ride, there was a bit of blood in the team car – and I didn’t even have the worst hands here. But I forgot my gloves, so it’s my fault really.”

“These boys have to learn,” mechanic Frank tells me, as he watches Patrick struggle with his mummification process. “Yes, they can have good fun, but we’re not here to treat them like kids. They’re not footballers. If you forget your gloves, you race without them. They have to learn to be organised, to be professional. This is cycling.”

Welcome to the life of a pro cyclist.

Balancing act

Casey’s baptism of fire (or blisters, as it turned out) at Paris-Roubaix is a telling indicator of the increasing professionalism at cycling’s junior level, a modern trend borne out by Bora and Red Bull’s increased focus on unearthing the next 16 and 17-year-old super talent.  

And with Tadej Pogačar, Remco Evenepoel, and Juan Ayuso upending, perhaps forever, cycling’s traditionally patient approach to rider development by bursting onto the scene – almost fully formed – as teenagers, more pressure than ever appears to be placed on school-age hopefuls to train and live like pros if they are to secure a WorldTour contract as soon as possible.

Casey, who is balancing racing in Europe with preparing for his A-Level exams in Physics, Biology, and French next month, is fully aware of the mounting demands faced by junior riders, as well as the need to balance his education with the training and racing required to make it as a pro.

“It’s always a real juggling act for people, and a lot find it quite hard,” he says. “And it’s down to the rapid professionalisation of the juniors, and the way everything is right now – the juniors is the new U23.

“And calls are having to be made for people a lot younger. Juniors are now training not too far off what a pro is doing. Sometimes there just aren’t the hours in the day for young people.”

However, the Irish rider insists there is no pressure on him to turn professional right away, from either the team or himself.

“It’s definitely something you think about,” he says. “I definitely have teammates who will be turning professional next year. It’s just the environment we’re in. Everything’s younger and younger, and sooner and sooner. I wouldn’t say it’s a pressure to turn pro sooner, but it’s an option. And once you see that option, it makes you want to push for it.

“But it’s not something I’m too bothered about. People develop at different rates, so if I’m ready at 21 or 23, then there you go. And that’s the nice thing about being with Bora, we have a lot of smart, experienced people who know what’s best for you, so there’s no pressure.

“And we haven’t actually seen yet the long-term effects of all these riders turning pro before they’re 20. It’s all well and good saying it’s a brilliant success because Remco won the Vuelta at 22 and he’s a double world champion.

“But we haven’t seen in five years’ time, with that crop of riders, what the burnout rate will be. And I’m not saying Remco’s going to be done at 25! But there’s no avoiding the fact you’re putting more stress on someone who’s still developing.”

Pro cycling’s increasingly youthful complexion is also reflected in a budding crop of exciting young riders from Britain and Ireland, with European time trial champion Josh Tarling and EF Education pair Darren Rafferty and Archie Ryan already making their mark at the elite level, while the likes of Dunwoody, Tarling’s brother Finlay (the victim of a very heavy crash at the junior Roubaix), and Nokere Koerse winner Sebastian Grindley comprise just part of a strong batch of juniors from these isles.

“I have a theory about this,” Casey, who grew up in Yorkshire but has roots in Derry and Donegal, pipes up when I mention the promising cohort of young riders from Britain and Ireland currently emerging, even as the UK’s domestic scene continues to dwindle.

“In the UK, your strongest region is probably Yorkshire. If you go back to 2012, you have a huge boom in cycling popularity, then in 2014 you have the Tour de France coming through, the Tour de Yorkshire being a UCI race, and all the interest around it.

“So are we the impact of that, ten to 12 years later, when we were at an age where we were inspired by 2012, 2014, and started to get on bikes. And in the UK, there’s a huge amount of popularity around my age, a real strong Yorkshire, north-west contingent, who were at those races.

“And in Ireland, you had the 2014 Giro. It’s the same effect, people being inspired by having grand tours in their backyard.”

Beyond his potential role in a new ‘golden generation’ of home riders, when it comes to his own development, Casey believes the grand tours and stage races are where he’ll find the most joy, an analysis validated by his impressive podium place and spell in the leader’s jersey at the Eroica Juniores in Tuscany.

“I’m definitely not a typical Roubaix rider. I’m 5’8” and sub-60 kilos, so you probably don’t get many Roubaix riders with that sort of physiological type,” he says.

“But I think I lean more towards the stage race stuff, a few days with proper climbing, a bit of time trialling. At junior level, the longest races you usually see are around the five-day mark, and those have been my standout results. I’m also capable for one-day stuff, and I don’t mind cobbles or crosswinds, but stage racing is where I’m happiest.”

“Individually this year, I’m really looking for a UCI win,” he says when asked about his short and long-term ambitions in the sport.

“I managed to get a second place at a UCI race last year [behind Dunwoody on the final stage of the Penn Ar Bed-Pays d’Iroise stage race, while riding for Anexo] and a few strong results through the year. But I’d really like to build on that with a win at a high-level race, and we’re going to some prestigious races that suit me this year.

“And obviously everyone has their eyes on the same stuff, world championships, a rainbow jersey is what dreams are made of – all the usual things.

“All of those are short-term goals, but your long-term aspirations and possibilities depend on it. Where you go as a U23 and as a professional will stem from that.

“But for me, there’s a huge focus on doing this as a career, doing this as a professional. And so, the goal is to facilitate that and to end up in the peloton.”

While Casey’s focus is set firmly on the professional ranks, the articulate and charismatic 18-year-old remains keen to enjoy every moment as a junior – even when, by his own admission, he’s riding “off into the bushes” at Paris-Roubaix.

“It all went wrong in the space of about five minutes,” he sighs, from his bench on the hill. “With about 65, 70km to go, I found myself on the front of the race with almost the entire team. And about five kilometres later, I’m in group three having crashed twice on my own. Then, yeah, it’s just one of those days.

“On Mons-en-Pévèle, I went onto the gravel and just lost the front wheel, and hit my back quite hard on the cobbles. And it’s all gone wrong from there. The on Carrefour de l’Arbre, another rider was fighting for the same bit of road, and he probably had 20 kilos on me, so I lost that fight, funnily enough!

“Again, off into the bushes, inspecting the cobbles. They look pretty good when you get close to them, though I was a bit closer than I wanted.”

> A history of folding bikes with Mark Bickerton (and the story behind THAT very 80s TV ad) plus tales from Paris-Roubaix on the road.cc Podcast

“But it was a classic day at Roubaix,” he continues, as teammate Theodor Clemmensen greets his parents after finishing an encouraging fifth in the velodrome.

“I’ve definitely learnt a lot – to have this as your first experience, to have the feeling of Roubaix. The pros are only 100km down the road, so the noise and atmosphere on the cobbles is incredible. People shouting at you going mental.

“I went past a really nice looking barbecue, too – that was quite tempting.”

As we both glance down at his battered, calloused hands, I tell Casey that, regardless of the result, at least he’s “gone the whole Van der Poel” on his first crack at Roubaix.

“Does he not ride gloves?” the 18-year-old looks up, shaking his head in astonishment. “What a legend. Bloody hell.”

He may not be too keen on ever riding the Hell of the North again, but if Patrick Casey continues along his thoroughly modern trajectory, it may not be too long before he’s rubbing shoulders in the bunch with Van der Poel, Evenepoel, and the rest.

As long as he remembers to bring both gloves next time…

Ambitious young male cyclists born in 2007 or 2008 can now apply for this year's Red Bull Junior Brothers programme. Applications are open until 30 April.