'I learned that I want to come back next year' – The youngest rider at Paris-Roubaix on his 'crazy' day out

There were 44 debutants at Paris-Roubaix on Sunday. The oldest of these was Aaron Gate of XDS Astana, at 35 years and 135 days. The youngest was Ezra Caudell of Modern Adventure Pro Cycling, at just 19 years and 216 days.

The American was not inconspicuous, because as well as being the youngest rider in the 123rd edition of Paris-Roubaix, he was also the tallest, at 6ft 8in.

Speaking to Cycling Weekly an hour before his first experience of the 'Hell of the North', Caudell seemed reasonably relaxed: "I have no expectations here, so I think I'm pretty free to just go out and have my best ride. There's not a tonne of pressure and I think that's going to help me today.

"I come from an MTB background, so hopefully that will help me out today. I think the pinch-me moment will happen when the race starts, it still feels a little unreal."

"Optimistically, a top 20 would be awesome, but I think realistically, I'd love to finish. To be there at the end, it's a dream," he added.

Six hours later, Caudell had lived through hell. The teenager finished, no mean feat in itself, in 120th place, 17:22 behind winner Wout van Aert.

"It was chaos, I pictured it being pretty crazy, but being out there in it was a whole different thing," he said, having done the obligatory catching up with his teammates to share war stories and taking a moment to compose himself. "Riding a 100km full gas before all the sectors, and then there was still 150km to go... I could have been done with the bike race right then.

"I feel like I had a really great day, I struggled with some positioning at the beginning, but during the race I was feeling good in all the sectors. Unfortunately I just had some mechanicals."

Unlike almost any other pro race, riders have a desire to finish Paris-Roubaix; just to say they have completed it, and to finish in the famous velodrome.

"It feels crazy, like coming in here and doing two laps of the velodrome. I did it. It's super exciting to be here," Caudell said.

"I don't think I was in the moment until I just got here. During the race, it just felt like another race, but standing here afterwards it's wild."

It was not just any other race, though, given the 30 cobbled sectors and record-breaking pace – it was the fastest ever edition of Paris-Roubaix with winner Wout van Aert averaging 48.91km/h

"The downhill sectors are insane, and once they start they feel like they'll never end," Caudell explained.

His size is definitely not an issue for a power race like Roubaix: "I feel like being one of the bigger riders definitely helps for a race like this, maybe that's another reason why I've always dreamt of doing this race. Being a bigger rider, it's the one for me.

Having finished one Roubaix, Caudell is not content to rest on his laurels. He wants to come back to the race and emulate Modern Adventure's team boss, George Hincapie, who finished in the top 10 multiple times, including one second place.

"I learned that I want to come back next year," he said. "Just better my positioning into the sectors and I think I could have a really good day. I think it's a race for me, and now I've done it I definitely want to come back."

First things first, though: "I think I'm going to go the showers, and have some French fries."