The total, unique model of this text was printed within the twenty sixth June 2025 print version of Biking Weekly. Subscribe on-line and get the journal delivered direct to your door each week.
Len Double dressed his youngest son Paul, simply 9 on the time, in a yellow jersey and pink helmet, and plonked him on a £100 mountain bike. “We have been in Cheddar Gorge and I advised him to journey down the hill after which again up,” Len remembers. “I didn’t count on a lot, however he rode up it like a bloody rocket! I believed, Jesus, if he takes this up, he may very well be fairly helpful.” The journey whetted younger Paul’s urge for food for biking. “I felt very early on that if he persevered he may develop into a stage race rider,” his father continues.
To succeed in the promised land of WorldTour and Grand Tour racing, Paul – born and raised in Winchester, Hampshire – has taken a winding and unusually lengthy path. Alongside the way in which, he has needed to scrape by on pay as little as €3,000 a 12 months, making ends meet by chopping wooden on the slopes of Mt Etna and sticking foam to his bike to enhance his time trialling. It’s been practically a decade-long journey from novice under-23 rider to Giro d’Italia finisher – a path demanding each endurance and perseverance, the very qualities his dad at all times stated he would want. “I stated he’d be a sluggish burner, and that’s what he’s develop into,” Len says. Lastly, although, at 28 – half a decade later than most of his friends – Double has arrived at biking’s high desk, and he’s already began selecting up some huge wins. “Changing into a professional has at all times been the dream, the one factor I’ve at all times aspired to, and it seems like I’ve solely simply began,” he says.
The younger Double confirmed early promise
(Picture credit score: Paul Double)
Sporty upbringing
It was from his dad Len that Double inherited his love and enthusiasm for biking. In his youthful years, Len, who’s now 71, was a first-cat racer and a well-recognized face on the south London street, monitor and time trial scene. However biking wasn’t Paul’s first sport. “He performed desk tennis, swam nicely, and was an honest runner,” Len recollects. “Then at some point, our hairdresser – who coached kayaking – requested if he needed to present {that a} go. He did, and took to it rapidly, however was entered into an occasion he wasn’t prepared for. He flipped the kayak and took some time to resurface. We didn’t realise at first, however he was really drowning in entrance of us. Understandably, he misplaced curiosity after that.”
Kayaking’s loss was biking’s achieve – although Double didn’t begin racing till after ending faculty at 18. In July 2016, he made an impression on the Welsh beginner race Ras De Cymru, profitable two levels towards much more skilled riders. The efficiency caught the attention of ex-pro Flavio Zappi, who runs the Italy-based Zappi U23 Biking Academy. “I noticed this very skinny man smash everybody within the time trial after which once more up the Tumble,” Zappi recollects. “I requested if he needed to return out to Italy, however then realised he was already fairly previous – 20 on the time.”
Regardless of his age, Double instantly dropped Zappi’s regulars on the climbs. “He had rather a lot to be taught, however I used to be satisfied he may maintain his personal,” says Zappi. What satisfied him? “He had a petroleum engine, not a diesel – that means he wouldn’t peak instantly, however over time, he’d get there.”
Survival cash
And so Double’s biking profession started – however there was one main impediment: he had barely any cash to fund his dream of constructing it to the highest. “I did odd jobs – cafés, bars, accommodations, serving to my dad – simply to get by,” he says. “[Rider support fund] Pedal Potential gave me a bit, however it was actually simply survival cash.”
Double’s eldest brother James was doing nicely in London’s monetary sector and stepped in to assist. “He may see I used to be a bit misplaced, but in addition that I’d been given an actual alternative. He stated I ought to go for it, and let me borrow cash on the understanding I’d pay him again if all of it labored out.”
Family and friends chipped in too, providing “espresso cash”. “I used to be very fortunate to have so many individuals supporting me,” Double displays. Others offered hand-me-downs and spares with which Len modified Paul’s bikes in his storage workshop. “Paul was referred to as the Bianchi Child at first as a result of his first bike was a celeste Bianchi,” Len says. “After that, a buddy gave us a body, another person gave us wheels, one other some tri-bars – we cobbled all of it collectively.”
For time-trial coaching, Len as soon as wrapped upholstery foam on Paul’s handlebars. “Folks laughed after they noticed it, however then Paul went out and smashed all of them.” On winter group rides, Paul wore washing-up gloves to maintain his palms dry. “He was penny-pinching as a result of we simply didn’t have any cash,” Len laughs.
Double was profiled by Biking Weekly in 2018, in a function contrasting his DIY set-up with the extravagant spending of Essex stockbroker Ian Hope – who, impressed by Double’s dedication, later gave him a one-off monetary enhance.
All these exhausting yards and artistic strategies began to repay. After using on the beginner Italian scene for Zappi in 2017 and 2018, Double secured a contract with the third-division Colpack staff for 2019. When Covid hit in 2020, he returned to Zappi and sat out the pandemic on the slopes of Mt Etna. “Till I went to Sierra Nevada [in Spain] forward of this 12 months’s Giro, Etna was as shut as I’d bought to altitude coaching,” he says. He and his trapped team-mates turned lockdown right into a bootcamp, gathering their very own firewood whereas Double turned home chef and lead entertainer.
“I play the guitar and sing a bit,” he says. “My go-to songs are normally unhappy and sluggish, counting on just a few chords.” He attracts a parallel to his day job. “I’m not very gifted [musically], however like my biking I proceed to see development, so perhaps if I stick with it, I’ll find yourself taking part in Wembley stadium,” he laughs, promptly including: “That was a joke!”
Using with Tadej
Double resumed racing at Continental degree in 2021. The next 12 months got here a breakthrough: he completed seventh on GC on the Tour of Slovenia, mixing it with Tadej Pogačar within the mountains. “I exceeded expectations that week and folks noticed I may journey and climb with the highest guys,” Double says. UCI ProTeam Human Powered Well being instantly employed him, setting in movement a sequence that may see him transfer to Alberto Contador’s Polti Kometa in 2024 after which to Jayco-Alula on a two-year contract initially of this season.
Aged 28, lengthy after most riders would have given up and fallen again on a special profession path, Double, the wily, aggressive climber, had made it to the massive time. “Perhaps I used to be delusional, like a type of individuals on X Issue who’s been advised they’re superb after they’re not,” he says. “However I noticed development yearly, so I had purpose to be optimistic.”
There’s no hint of conceitedness – Double is nicely conscious he’s nonetheless studying. “The largest change at Jayco has been sporting a coronary heart charge monitor. Earlier than, I’d let my energy meter die and wouldn’t change the battery till a staff requested for information. I’ve at all times ridden on emotion and really feel, however now I’m embracing the science.”
In April, he gained a stage of the Coppi e Bartali, his first ever win as a WorldTour rider. “I’ve at all times been an overthinker and I’d been doubting myself within the WorldTour, so to win was a reduction greater than something.” A couple of weeks later, at his maiden Giro d’Italia, he was briefly the digital chief when he discovered himself within the breakaway on stage seven. “It was tremendous thrilling and there have been severe ideas going by way of my head that in the event that they gave us a load of time this may very well be a extremely huge day.” It didn’t occur, however Double completed the Giro. “I used to observe these races considering, ‘how do they do that?’. Now I’m considering, ‘how will we do that?’. They are saying a Grand Tour adjustments you, and I actually suppose it has.”
It’s been a protracted journey however in simply six months Double has earned his place on the WorldTour. “The staff have advised me that they foresee much more progress from me, which is sweet to listen to. I gained’t be placing huge strain on myself, however will maintain doing what I’ve at all times achieved: taking alternatives after they come my approach.”
(Picture credit score: Future)
Late developer – longer profession?
Paul Double’s late entry into the chaos and stress {of professional} biking could finally work in his favour, says the previous Italian professional who first took an opportunity on him, Flavio Zappi.
“Many boys begin biking round 10, and by the point they’ve developed the engine, at 18 or 19, they’ve fully burned out mentally,” Zappi says. “Paul, alternatively, had the engine from the start, however needed to be taught race craft, eat, prepare, and all the remaining.
“Bettering as a bicycle owner has at all times been necessary to him, however he’s by no means been paranoid about it. I’d like to have 100 boys like him yearly to coach and coach.” Zappi remembers Double’s victory in an Italian beginner race in 2018 – the primary ever for his staff in eight years. “After he gained, he did essentially the most Paul factor: he insisted on driving the staff van again dwelling,” Zappi says. “It was what he cherished to do, and it was his approach of thanking everybody. He’s one of the best team-mate you possibly can ask for.”
Wanting forward, Zappi is assured Double will proceed to justify his place within the WorldTour. “He can win a stage of a Grand Tour,” he says. “He wants time, however he can do it.”
