On April 12, 19-year-old Kamilla Aasebø rode her first Paris-Roubaix, the toughest and most iconic of cycling’s Monument classics.The 2025 Norwegian U23 road race champion — third in the senior women’s road race — is one of the country’s top prospects, racing for Scandinavian team Uno-X Mobility.She was perfectly positioned in the main bunch with 50km remaining, when, two wheels ahead of her, a competitor went down. A crash was unavoidable.Aasebø found herself lying on the cobbles with elbow and jaw injuries, and was sped to hospital. That evening, doctors discovered a brain bleed — which left her in a life-threatening condition in intensive care.Five days later, on regaining consciousness, she realised she had no movement in her right leg. It would be two weeks before she could return to Oslo to begin her rehabilitation.Two months on from Paris-Roubaix, Aasebø has recovered enough to get back on her bike. She spoke exclusively to The Athletic immediately after returning from her first ride outside since her crash — sharing a story of shaved heads, panic attacks… and hot dogs.Jacob Whitehead: Kamilla, it’s so good to see you back riding after your accident. I think everybody was shocked when they saw the pictures and learned just how serious your condition was in hospital. Apologies for the generality of this question, but… just how are you doing right now, two months later?Kamilla Aasebø: “I’m feeling really good lately. It’s been really nice that rehabilitation is going so much quicker than expected — I think I’ve come quite far already. Back at the hospital, and also speaking to the team doctor, we thought it would take a bit longer.“But I think that what comes now might be the toughest part. What I’ve been through already was obviously quite serious, but I wasn’t really awake at that point. I didn’t know what was happening. Now, I’ve got to be patient.“Every step so far in my recovery has actually been quite easy to see — getting the movement back in my leg, removing wires from my jaw — and it meant I could see the progress day to day. But now I’ve just got to wait.”JW: Is there anything you can do to keep mentally busy, as well as the obvious physical rehab?KA: “Yes, actually. The (women’s) Giro finished yesterday, and our directeur sportif was giving me a kind of homework. He sent the team plan so I could review it, asked me if there was anything I noticed, any ideas I had that could help. It made me feel involved.”JW: You might end up being the youngest DS in the peloton…KA: [laughs] “Yes, for sure! But I’m also a young rider, and I was looking forward to riding this summer, to gain more experience, to help me become a smarter rider. So hopefully this will help me.”JW: So, if we go back to the start of your season, just how significant was Paris-Roubaix? Did you always know you were building towards it, or was it a reward for your form?KA: “Yeah, my season went really well in the beginning. Roubaix is a really cool race, but I also thought it was a race that would suit me, because I’m more of a Classics rider, but I also have a background in mountain biking, and I think my handling skills are quite good.“So I knew quite early I would do it and really targeted being in shape for the race. I took some nice steps in the winter — my goal was to be able to ride into the final and be there towards the end. I was able to save my energy, because me and Susanne Andersen were probably our leaders — her for the sprint, but me to follow late moves.“The part of the race after I crashed was my time to shine, you know?”Aasebø had been in great form on the cobbles earlier in the spring (ELIAS ROM / Belga / AFP via Getty Images)JW: Do you remember any of the race itself?KA: “I do actually. I remember everything, from the day before the race, to how it went in the beginning, until some time after the crash. I see everything really clearly, actually.“I was in the middle of the main group, a bit more towards the back, and I saw the rider a bit in front of me on the right-side crashing, her bike suddenly rising in front of me. Sometimes there’s a moment where you understand that now you’re going to crash. You have time to think about it. And then you do.“I landed on my jaw, I think I went like this. [She mimics going over her handlebars]. But it happened really fast. The first thing I noticed was that I had broken a piece of one of my teeth. I remember some spectators coming towards us to help, and a woman looking at me and touching her jaw, I think she was giving me a hint. I put my finger to the wound, and it was quite deep. Like, all the way to the bone.“But what I was most worried about was being on the road with riders coming. I wanted them to move me, to help me get out of the way. But I also felt like it could have been a crash where I just got up, took my bike, and carried on. (American former time trial world champion) Chloe Dygert was lying next to me completely still, other girls weren’t moving, but I was just sitting there fully aware.”