“I’m really proud to make it to the Velodrome” - Andrew August on finishing Paris-Roubaix as the youngest rider to ever race the Hell of the North

After Josh Tarling broke the record for the youngest-ever rider to race Paris-Roubaix at last year’s edition, his INEOS Grenadiers teammate Andrew August lowered the bar once again at this year’s race, as he broke the Welsh rider’s record by 224 days, as he raced the Hell of the North at the age of just 18 years and 178 days old.

Similarly to Tarling last year, August battled to get to the Roubaix Velodrome and finish the race, albeit outside the time limit. He finished in a group of three riders 27 minutes and 35 seconds down on the winner Mathieu van der Poel, missing the time cut by just one minute and 31 seconds.

However, to complete the full 260km route of arguably the hardest Monument on the calendar is indicative of the talent the young American rider possesses and shows why INEOS Grenadiers have put so much faith in him.

Speaking after the race, August said “first of all, I’m really proud to make it to the Velodrome. Yeah, I guess in the first portion of the race, I tried to help the guys out as much as I could. And then just from there, the goal was just make it to the end”.

On where this ranks in the races that he has already done in his young career, he went on to say “I mean, with all the spectators, and that way it’s most beautiful for me so far. But also, getting your hands battered for 260km? I don’t think you would say is beautiful”.