Tom Pidcock finished Paris-Roubaix with his head held high after finishing in the top 20 on debut.
The Ineos Grenadiers rider has won both the junior and under 23 editions of the race before, but explained that the elite version, won by Mathieu van der Poel for a second time, was simply on another level.
Nevertheless, he took 17th and said he was satisfied with his showing, particularly as Roubaix was not initially part of his schedule for the season.
"It’s not bad is it," he said. "It’s a pretty epic race. I couldn't hold my bars at the end of the race, which was my biggest problem. There’s not much else to say really."
When asked how getting a taste of the senior version of the race compared to his past experiences, Pidcock said that it was impossible to make a comparison.
"It’s a completely different beast," he explained. "The speed was pretty incredible. The race was just split in bits from the first sector really. It was a big day out but there was not much I could have done. At the end of the day, the weight comes into play and I only have so much power."
When he was announced at the last minute as an addition to the Ineos Grenadiers team for the race, Pidcock said that, in his view, it was one of the most beautiful races on the calendar.
He joked that his opinion had changed after hours of thundering over the pave of northern France.
"My opinion might have changed after today,” he said. “It was good but I’m struggling to have the energy to sum up my day… I think it’s more difficult to win Paris-Roubaix now that I’ve done it."
Meanwhile Ineos Grenadier's other star rider, Josh Tarling, didn’t finish Roubaix after being disqualified for holding onto a car for too long after taking a sticky bottle from an Ineos staff member.
"It’s a decision that was made out on the road and it's done," Ineos DS Ian Stannard told reporters. It’s a racing circumstance. He had a bike change and it is what it is."
When asked whether he felt disqualification was the correct decision by the race commissaires, Stannard wouldn’t be drawn either way.
"At the end of the day the commissaires made the decision and that’s it."
