Tom Pidcock’s blistered and painful hands perfectly summed up his Paris-Roubaix debut and his 17th place in the velodrome, 6:20 down on dominant winner Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck).
The Ineos-Grenadiers racer was a late entry to the Hell of the North after crashing before the opening time trial of Itzulia Basque Country.
He is targeting the Ardennes Classics that begin next Sunday with the Amstel Gold Race but wanted to test his form, and - after winning the Junior and U23 versions of Paris-Roubaix - get a taste of the elite level race, too.
“It’s a completely different beast. The speed was pretty incredible,” a clearly fatigued Pidcock told Cyclingnews and GCN after he completed anti-doping and rode back to the Ineos Grenadiers team bus.
