Three hours before Mathieu van der Poel crossed the line in the Vélodrome André-Pétrieu in Roubaix, a different race was finishing at the same location. These were the stars of the future, as Paris-Roubaix Juniors takes place on the same day as the elite men's race.
Jakob Omrzel, a Slovenian, triumphed in a four-up sprint in the velodrome, suggesting his country has more cycling talent to come, but four minutes behind him finished Ireland's Patrick Casey.
The 18-year-old was making his debut at the junior version of the Hell of the North thanks to being a successful applicant to the Red Bull Junior Brothers programme, which was launched in conjunction with Bora-Hansgrohe. As a result, Casey rides for Bora's under-19 team, GRENKE-Auto Eder, and is a Red Bull athlete.
Speaking ahead of the 111km race, which still includes 17 sectors of pavé, just like Paris-Roubaix Femmes, Casey explained that he was "probably less nervous" than he thought he would be. Post-race, he admitted to feeling "pretty beaten-up".
He placed 30th, one of 74 riders to finish. Great Britain's Sebastian Grindley finished 12th, the best British rider. Casey said that he was "fairly content" with his performance, especially as he suffered the requisite amount of bad luck for a rider on cobbles.
"There was a lot of lying around on the ground and trying to get rid of pain, I feel there was quite a lot of that going on," he explained. "My hands are covered in blisters, there's blood on my handlebars. It's probably one of the most demanding races I've ever done.
"It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, based on our recons and the things you hear about Roubaix, I was expecting to be out of my depth and overwhelmed. But I handled it really well."
"I found myself a few times on the backfoot, because of things out of my control. I managed to sort of slide out on some gravel, which made me lose contact with the head of the race, the leading group," he continued.
"Then also on the Mons-en Pévèle sector, I managed to deck it on there as well, just fighting for position. There's only one line down that sector through the middle of the road. Me and someone else both wanted it at the same time. I lost out on that fight. So I had to get going again there. But yeah, that's just Roubaix."
There are few places in cycling that mean as much as the Roubaix velodrome, and Casey stressed that this was one of the best bits of the whole ride, even if there was blood on his handlebars.
"Arriving in the velodrome was really nice, crossing the finish line was a special experience, because it is one of those places in cycling that everyone knows," he said. "It's at the heart of cycling, the history of that place is incredible. It's still really special to be finishing there with the crowds."
The race operates as a paradox - it is horrible, but beautiful. For Casey, whose talents are much more likely to lie in climbing than in a flat Classic, it was exactly this.
"When you're doing it, you think 'I'm never coming back here again'," he said. "My hands hurt, my back hurt, my neck hurt, everything was horrible, and you hate it while you do it. After a few minutes, you start thinking you'll stick your hand up for next year.
"There's a DNF rate of over 50% for that race, and that's just down to the chaos. For it to be such a long-running event really speaks to how much fun it is. On paper, it's just one big bad idea."
Beyond results, Casey is using this year as a learning experience, one which he was only able to do through the Red Bull Junior Brothers programme, which sees participants compete for a coveted spot on GRENKE – Auto Eder by riding on the program’s dedicated Zwift workout before 30th April 2024.
The top performers will be invited to a training camp, which will see more testing; two will be ultimately chosen. The programme closes to applicants this month, but anyone interested is still encouraged to apply.
"Racing with the team is a massive privilege," Casey said. "To be able to use the Bora-Hansgrohe equipment, and be part of their umbrella is massive. You carry a confidence from this, knowing that you have the best teammates and equipment.
"It's a brilliant idea and there really are not drawbacks. You stand a huge chance of ending up in a massively privileged position. Being a Red Bull athlete that goes beyond cycling. It's a privileged world to be a part of."
