Australian riders have definitely had their eras of success at Paris-Roubaix, this nevertheless isn’t one among them. Simply three riders from the nation had been on the beginning line in 2025 and the perfect positioned finisher from amongst these came visiting the road in 82nd however provided that rider was a debuting 20-year-old Oscar Chamberlain (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) the embers of hope for a resurgence within the years forward are nonetheless burning.
The second-youngest rider on the start-line of the race, a runner-up within the 2023 junior version of Paris-Roubaix, went into the 2025 occasion “desperate to get on the bike and on the cobbles and see what hell seems like”, including in an interview shared by Australian broadcaster SBS that the race for him was about getting expertise, serving to the workforce and making it to the velodrome throughout the time restrict.
“That first sector, it is simply our bodies falling. Positively it was what I used to be pondering it was going to be however much more,” Chamberlain informed Cyclingnews after he had crossed the road.
The Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale rider could have already skilled the 110km Paris-Roubaix juniors twice, coming twenty fourth on his debut in 2022 earlier than the second in 2023, however getting into the elite ranks, and a race of 259.2km with round twice as many cobbled sectors, was one thing else altogether.
Paris-Roubaix is “type of two races in a single. The primary half is simply moving into that first couple of sectors – it is like the primary end line. Everybody’s going full fuel and going as laborious as they’ll into into that first cobbled sector and from there it is simply who can grasp on and keep in direction of the entrance,” stated Chamberlain.
“It is only a utterly totally different sport and if I might do the junior one once more, I’d,” he stated with a smile.
Chamberlain – who simply final week completed 57th because the youngest rider on the Tour of Flanders – managed to ‘grasp on’ and get by way of on Sunday with none flat tyres or crashes whereas absorbing as a lot data as attainable from his skilled workforce. Stefan Bissegger was the highest finisher from the squad in seventh, even after an ill-timed flat.
The 2023 junior world time trial champion additionally achieved his objective of creating it to the velodrome throughout the time restrict with ease, coming by way of the road 12:21 behind winner Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck). The final rider dwelling throughout the minimize was Oier Lazkano (Crimson Bull-Bora Hansgrohe), practically ten minutes additional again in 117th place.
It might not have been a debut that drew as a lot consideration as that delivered by the youngest rider within the race, Visma-Lease a Bike’s Matthew Brennan who got here forty fourth and hung out among the many favourites, but it surely was all part of Chamberlain’s journey from a self described little guy with a Spider Man bike to a rider that has aspirations to at some point to repeat the feats of riders like 2007 winner Stuart O’Grady and 2016 victor Matthew Hayman.
“There have been some Aussies prior to now who’ve performed nicely, so I hope to be a kind of at some point,” concluded Chamberlain.
