'Others called it quits, I carried on' – Paul Double on the resilient road from 'getting head kicked in' as a U23 to a Giro d'Italia debut at 28

There were 59 debutants on the start line of this year's Giro d'Italia, but few will have completed a more fitting and fascinating "full circle" journey to their first Grand Tour than Paul Double.

From VC Venta in Winchester, to cutting his teeth in Italian under-23 racing, and finally making it to the WorldTour in 2025 with Jayco AlUla, Double has arrived somewhere he at times didn't think would be reachable – La Corsa Rosa.

It came after years of resilience and a "seeing how far you can get" attitude from the 28-year-old. Was he nervous ahead of the start? Of course, "but at the end of the day, it's just bike racing", and he's getting stuck in.

He was 13th on the opening day, with friends and family making the trip to Albania, and after the Grande Partenza, is Jayco's second-highest ranked rider on GC, 1:13 down on the maglia rosa.

"The older guys say Grand Tours are a journey for all and that everyone's got their own story," Double told Cyclingnews on the eve of the race. "I'm looking forward to what comes in the next three weeks; I'll just try to enjoy it and hopefully get something out of it.

"I definitely didn't always think a Grand Tour debut was going to happen. I took it step by step, and it has seemed the logical move to make it in the last year – I didn't end up coming in 2024, but I'm here now and I'm just excited."

An Italian journey from past to present

Double gave some insight into what it's taken to get to this point, after not rising through as a superstar junior like many of the riders who dominate today's peloton, coming to cycling late, and making the most of various opportunities in Italy.

That first opportunity with a link to the Giro's home came after impressing at an amateur race in Wales nine years ago, where former Italian pro Flavio Zappi saw his potential. 

Zappi wanted Double on his British junior team, which also played a role in the start of fellow Giro debutants Tom Pidcock and Mark Donovan's careers. However, it took a year for Double and Zappi to finally link up in 2017, when cycling started to become more of a career than a hobby for the Brit.

"I do always end up speaking about him [Zappi], but I guess that shows how big a part of the path he's been for me," said Double. 

"I guess I started taking cycling more seriously when I moved to Italy, to be honest. In the UK, I wasn't a complete bum, but I didn't really know what to do and didn't have any direction."

Making it in cycling was gradual, in theory, but it wasn't linear at all for Double, whose perseverance carried him through the tough times and three years of bouncing from teams like Colpack, where UAE have long scouted talent, before finally landing at ProTeam Human Powered Health in 2022. 

At 25, the Brit had endured a fair share of financial and career struggles that would have seen most others give up the ghost. 

"I guess it has been sacrifices, lonely times, and I've spoken about my resilience," admitted Double modestly. 

"Maybe some people, definitely others along the way, who I've been on teams with, they've called it quits, and I carried on. So I'm proud of myself in that sense. I guess I'm an okay bike rider, and I've managed to make it here.

"Racing in the UK was in lots of small pelotons, proper amateur racing. Then you go to the under-23s in Italy, and it's still amateur, but it seems very professional, and you've got 150 to 200 guys racing. 

"I was getting my head kicked in, but I think the key was to just keep battling on, and you should learn fast. Maybe I learned a bit slower, and my progression was a bit slow, but I was always improving. If you had your head kicked in at some stage, it's easier to keep going on, I guess."

Grand Tour debutant or barista?

If he hadn't endured all those races "getting his head kicked in", Double wasn't overly sure what path he might have taken; however, coffee would have certainly been involved.

"I was just doing odd jobs and helping my dad out with his business. I say helping out, he'd probably say I was just being a pain. I didn't have any direction," said Double to Cyclingnews.

"Maybe I'd have continued working in cafes and found a path in coffee. I enjoyed the barista side, and I still now think about maybe setting up a small cafe sometime, that would be quite fun."

For Double, it was never about the money, too, or fame, but that pursuit of self-improvement that impacted his drive to keep going, with the move to Jayco not being the destination but merely part of the journey. 

"I only did cycling as long as it was financially viable, so that's why I would continue when it was hard and I wasn't making much money, because it was possible," said Double. 

"Now I guess there's a bit more security, and I suppose you don't do it just for a living. It's a challenge to keep on progressing and seeing how far you can get – that's why I do it."

I always thought I could win, but it just never clicked… Then it did

The Giro, too, was just the next logical step in becoming a better bike racer. He didn't just take the start in Albania and celebrate being there; he's at the Giro to compete. With the race reaching Italy on stage 4, he'll be looking to repeat what he did at this year's Coppi e Bartali, where he took a first pro victory on adopted home Emilia-Romagna roads.

"To win on those roads where I used to train, that was pretty special. It went in a nice, full circle, you know, came back to where it was started in Italy," said Double. 

"It was a big milestone, and good for the confidence because I always thought I could win, but it just never quite clicked… Then it did. It was perfect timing, too, with this race coming up."

Double's Giro debut almost came a year earlier, when his natural affinity to Italy continued as he joined Polti-Kometa, the Italian ProTeam run by Alberto and Fran Contador and Ivan Basso, when he was in the right shape, but missed out due to scheduling issues. But now that it's here, he isn't merely aiming to be a debutant, but a winner.

"It had been the plan, aiming for the Giro, but obviously nothing is guaranteed. We were happy with my form in Coppi e Bartali, but maybe the consistency wasn't quite there, so I don't know if behind the scenes, maybe there were some question marks," admitted Double. 

"[At] Tour of the Alps I didn't get the top result, but I was quite consistent, and then we did a nice ride as a team in Frankfurt. So I thought that I was going, but when I got the confirmation, that was really, really nice. 

"We're all going to dream of a stage win. I'm going to race and hopefully take opportunities to get the best results possible. But at the same time, there's going to be a lot of unknowns for me personally." 

Unknowns or not, Paul Double making his Giro d'Italia debut at 28 seems like one of those things that is just right. He's more than paid off those "sacrifices" and "lonely times" by making it to the WorldTour alone, but a win at the Giro would be the ultimate confirmation of what Zappi saw in the Brit that day nine years ago in Wales.

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