The incredible story of the cyclist who has gone from rags to riches by jumping to the WorldTour at 28 years of age: "I still feel very young"
Cycling
Almost a decade fighting for his dream, but Paul Double has made it. The British cyclist has reached the WorldTour at the age of 28. After several stints with several ProTeam teams (most recently Alberto Contador's Polti Kometa), Double has signed this winter with WorldTour Jayco-AlUla. With a 2-year contract, the Australian team rider tells his incredible story.
"It's a little surreal," Paul Double begins by telling Rouleur, talking about how he started riding at 17, spent time cutting down trees, working in restoration, and finally, after a long time of saving and buying used clothes, has turned pro.
"To be honest, at university I was a bit of a slacker: I rode a bit of a bike with my friends, but I didn't really know what I was doing, I didn't have a direction. My father was a butler in London, so I was always interested in the service sector, and I thought about going into wine or coffee, but I also knew from my father how hard it was," adds the Brit.
The challenge of making his debut in the WorldTour at 28 years of age
There are very few cases in which a rider makes it to the WorldTour at almost 30 years of age. Despite this, Paul Double doesn't feel threatened: "I still feel very young, maybe because I look young too. And I'll always feel like an amateur, to be honest. The guys at Polti used to make fun of me, saying I did things that were a bit weird, like walking down from the hotel room to the bus in my cycling shoes. Apparently, you don't do that."
At Jayco AlUla he doesn't want to go unnoticed. The Brit will be looking to stand out from the first moment he gets on the bike: "I know my role is going to change and it will be a matter of learning to do the job of a teammate, something I've never done because I've always been a leader, but when I get the chance I want to get results like I have so far. Now everything is closer, it's super exciting."
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Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- That may be but that is unknown to others and nothing says that’s the whole truth. Again, don’t try to misinterpret, it is a call and technically it is correct. Besides, even if there is a valid reason, that does not disqualify the ruling or punishment as far as the rules have been developed. I don’t think they’re as far as in football where for handball there is a distinction (in some ways and specific cases) between intentional or not. And football can be just as harsh and people live with it, eg the offside rule, also judged to within tiny fractions but often wrong or ignored. It’s the nature of every collective organisation and sometimes I wonder if our rebellion against it isn’t seated in the feelings we carry from the injustices we’ve felt personally, like being flashed driving 1km/h too fast when we are explained limits are just a security measure but we are absolutely certain not to have endangered anyone with our transgression. The problem is, nobody has better solutions and no 2 people have the same interpretation of where a limit should be.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Because for you deviated implies the other rider MUST have been made to fall and fail to finish ??? I don’t know if you ride a bike but next time someone carves you up or drives dangerously close, just hold back from those feelings of changing something, reporting or filming or even complaining. Everyone will just say, hey you’re still here undamaged, doesn’t seem like anyone did anything.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- And we, what are we doing?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
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- he is doing 460 watts for 35 min to achieve 7 w/kg with VO2 at 96 , just unreal numbers.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- Just do it, and put up with the consequencesJumpyjohn08-11-2026
- "was a headliner at the Tour de France" Nobody cared about Piddie. Only rivals that were there for Pogi, Jonas, Remco, Sexias, Lipo, Del Toro and they were all expected to lose. Piddie was not even in any conversation.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- exactly, he had an amazing season, but with these overstatements they don‘t do him good.Ketterechts08-11-2026
- More to the point, it isn't his remaining goal.Renz08-11-2026
- lol yeahmij08-11-2026
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