‘It’s the last one for me, that’s for sure’ – Final Paris-Roubaix for Luke Durbridge as Australian announces impending retirement

Luke Durbridge confirmed Sunday he would race with his long-time squad, Jayco-AlUla, through the end of the 2026 road season and then retire after the Australian Road National Championships in January 2027.

Across his 17 seasons as a pro cyclist, Durbridge has been a solid fixture with GreenEDGE Cycling, the parent company for Jayco-AIUIa, his entire career. He began as a neo-pro when the team was founded in 2012, a year after winning the men’s junior world title in the individual time trial as an 18–year-old. When Durbridge steps aside in a few months, it will mark the close of the team’s original roster.

He has won national titles four times in the time trial and twice on the road; his road victories stretched between 2013 and 2025. Much of his individual success was clustered in his under-23 days, with an Oceania Continental road win, stage win at Criterium du Dauphine and GC victories at Tour Pouitou-Charentes and Circuit Sarthe-Pays de la Loire.

He became a workhorse on the team, no matter what the terrain or the type of race, riding in 16 Grand Tours, 11 of those the Tour de France. His best finish was second place on the final stage into Milan at the 2015 Giro d’Italia, and the next year, he finished seventh on stage 10 at the Tour.

Before his first Grand Tour experience at the Giro in 2013, he competed in his first Paris-Roubaix, recalling it clearly.

“The first time, I was terrified. I’m not terrified going into today. It’s going to be hard, and you know, it’s going to be stressful and all those things, but I think once you’ve seen the story happen so many times, you sort of get a bit more relaxed about it,” Durbridge told CyclingProNet before the start on Sunday.

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“We go faster, so we hit the cobbles with a lot more speed. So I guess you’re technical on the cobbles less time than you were before,” he laughed.

“The equipment we have is pretty incredible now. I mean, in 2012 we were running probably 28, now we’re on 32 [millimetre] tyres. The bike absorbs a lot of the shock.

“We’re just trying to be active in the race, trying to get ourselves ahead of that big push from the leaders. If you get up the road, then you can potentially avoid some risk and play in the final.”

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He came into this Spring Classics campaign recovering from an illness that put him out of the second half of Paris-Nice. Success at this one-day race was survival. He and all but one teammate rode to the Roubaix Velodrome. His final statement about finishing Roubaix could be recited in nine months about his career as well.

“It’s been an honour to race this race. I’m just really happy to be at the velodrome, and really proud of myself to get here. Yeah, it’s been emotional,” Durbridge said in a social video posted by his team after completing Paris-Roubaix for an 11th time in his career.

“It’s the last one for me, that’s for sure. I’m happy it’s done.”

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