(MENAFN- Kora) Wiggins was part of the final group in the famous race alongside favourites fabian cancellara and tom boonen but could not match the late surge from winner niki terpstra (omega pharma-quick step) with six kilometres remaining.
In the lead-up to this year's race - the 112th edition of the one-day classic known as 'the hell of the north' - wiggins had spoken about how he used to ride across a rare section of cobblestones in the streets of london during his childhood pretending he was racing paris-roubaix.
And after holding on throughout the 257 kilometres the 2012 tour de france champion believes he could one day emerge victorious in the velodrome of roubaix.
"to be there was great and i have confidence i can do it now and i can match those guys if you like" wiggins said.
"to go top 10 i think in hindsight is a good result. there's not many tour winners who've gone top 10 in paris-roubaix."
The 33-year-old briton added that he even felt somewhat disappointed after finishing just 20 seconds behind terpstra.
"there's a tinge of disappointment because i really had the legs and even in the final i felt strong" wiggins said.
"but there was a part of where i was pinching myself a little bit i don't mind admitting that. it was a real honour to be in the final there going past boonen on the carrefour. it was something special to come into the velodrome in a group with cancellara."
Cancellara who had been aiming for his fourth paris-roubaix victory to join boonen and roger de vlaeminck as the most successful cyclists in the race's history finished third missing out in a sprint with john degenkolb (giant shermano).
The 33-year-old swiss claimed his trek factory racing team lacked a touch of luck.
"honestly i race for winning not arriving for second or third but in the end i'm realistic" cancellara said.
"when i put everything on the table and analyse afterwards this race it was quite a strange race with a lot of headwind crashes and not so much luck from our side on the team."
Boonen finished 10th and while disappointed to miss out on a record-breaking fifth victory he was glad one of his omega pharma-quick step teammates had been able to take line honours.
Omega pharma-quick step were in a strong position with 20km to go with terpstra boonen and zdenek stybar all in the lead group.
"of course if you're trying so hard yourself it's only normal that at first you're a bit disappointed then after that i'm happy too" the 33-year-old belgian said.
"it was a day to forget quickly but in the end we've won. i couldn't imagine that we would have lost the race. that would've been completely ridiculous."
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