Hayman, who turned 38 on April 20, joins Stuart O'Grady as the only Australians to win Paris-Roubaix. The 2016 edition was his 15th Paris-Roubaix. He used his experiment in this race to be in the perfect condition to play his card. Interviewed by Cyclingnews, the Orica GreenEDGE rider told about his feeling after the 'Hell of the North'.

"I was also lucky or clever enough to put myself in that early break. I think I missed a lot of the hard racing when Tom Boonen broke the bunch up and those two groups were chasing each other for quite a long way. Tom made the race really long and really hard. I missed most of that. I only joined them when they got me at about 50km to go. I realised the last 10km that I was actually probably a bit fresher than the other guys", he explained. "Sometimes having so much experience can almost be a negative because I have seen punctures on every section… It’s like I say, ‘I have punctured here once … ‘I have crashed over here once … Oh, this corner is a bit dangerous.’ But [on Sunday] it worked in my favour and I was confident in every move I made."

With this win, he thinks that a lot of things will change. "This [win] has obviously come out of the blue and has been a bit of dream. Who knows about the Tour? I am putting my name back in the ring, but I understand the team needs to look at the route and needs to pick the best team to get the maximum publicity and results. As we get closer and see riders’ form and injuries it will become clearer whether I am going to the Tour again. It’s not very glamorous to say, ‘I would like to finish my first Tour de France’ now that I have won Paris-Roubaix, but it’s still a big box [to tick]. I would like to get to the Champs-Élysées. That being said, I am happy with my career and I was before this race. This is the big one for me. I am still pinching myself."

He concluded with hopes to be present at the start of Paris-Roubaix with the number 1 on his back. "I think so. I would have to speak to my wife about that. I do have a contract for next year. But sure, after breaking my arm after doing months of training, it was a bit of a rough period … I was asking myself, ‘Is this what I still want to be doing?’ But then days like [Sunday] make it all worthwhile. But even before, the way we rode at Tour Down Under, that’s what I like. I like winning and I like being in a team that is doing well. As long as those good days outnumber or outweigh the bad days and the time away from home and we can still justify it, then I would like to be at Roubaix again next year."