"I was terrified the first time, but you get sort of used to it": Luke Durbridge looks back at his last Paris-Roubaix

The cycling peloton will lose one of its mentors at the end of this season. Luke Durbridge has been a part of the Jayco AlUla team since its innauguration in 2012 and, it is through his retirement that a chapter in the history of the Australian team ends this year as Durbridge is currently the last serving member of that group of dreamers who have travelled to Europe 14 years ago.

"Yesterday marked the 11th and final edition of Paris-Roubaix for Luke Durbridge, who announces that 2026 will be his final season as a professional cyclist, with the Aussie set to hang up his wheels at the Australian national champs in January. Thanks for the ride, Durbs. It’s been wild since 2012," his team posted to social media.

The 35-year-old kicked off his career as a talented time trialist, introducing himself to the world of cycling with a prologue victory at the 2012 Critérium du Dauphiné and GC wins from Tour du Poitou Charentes and Circuit cycliste Sarthe - Pays de la Loire (both 2.1), that have both stemmed down from a time trial triumph.

That debut season might've just been the best of Durbridge's career, as his further steps saw him develop in the direction of reliable teammate, and a road captain at the cobbled classics and Grand Tours, something that is well-documented by 11 nominations for Paris-Roubaix, Tour of Flanders and Tour de France during his fifteen professional seasons.

And even though Durbridge had been sparsely given the responsibility of a result, he can look back at a 12th place at the 2017 Tour of Flanders, and an 18th place from Paris-Roubaix a year earlier. Though his palmares are slightly less at Roubaix, it is indeed the iconic Hell of the North that ultimately grew more on the Australian cyclist.

"The first time, I was terrified," he admitted to CyclingProNet before Sunday's race. But with each passing year, Durbridge learned to appreciate all the Monument's quirks. "I'm not terrified going into today. It's going to be hard, and you know, it's going to be stressful and all those things, but I think once you've seen the story happen so many times, you sort of get a bit more relaxed about it."

Since his 2013 debut, Durbridge notes that the way Roubaix is being raced has changed drastically. "We go faster, so we hit the cobbles with a lot more speed. So I guess you're technical on the cobbles less time than you were before," he laughed.

That has been caused also by technological advancement of the sport of cycling: "The equipment we have is pretty incredible now. I mean, in 2012 we were running probably 28, now we're on 32 [millimetre] tyres. The bike absorbs a lot of the shock," he points out.

Any final tips from Durbridge on how to pull off a "miracle" result at Roubaix? "We're just trying to be active in the race, trying to get ourselves ahead of that big push from the leaders. If you get up the road, then you can potentially avoid some risk and play in the final."