‘Maybe I won’t win 19 this year’ – Pink jersey Paul Magnier turns from quantity to quality with maiden Grand Tour success at Giro d’Italia

Only Tadej Pogačar had more wins than Paul Magnier in 2025, but he would more than likely trade all 19 of those previous successes for the one he achieved on stage 1 of the Giro d’Italia on Friday, reaching a new level in 2026 as the Soudal-QuickStep rider out-sprinted Tobias Lund Andresen (Decathlon CMA CGM) to the line in Burgas, Bulgaria.

Magnier has long been a top prospect, breaking through with victories on Italian roads at the Giro Next Gen and Tour of Britain in 2024, then adding WorldTour successes to his palmares at the Tour of Guangxi and Tour of Poland a season ago.

While Magnier isn’t one of the favourites for the second stage into Veliko Tarnovo, where a punchy finale could draw the GC riders out into a fight, he’s prepared to honour the jersey with everything he has. There will also be at least four more chances for the fast-men as the Giro goes on – the first of which is on stage 3 into Sofia.

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“[Wearing the pink jersey] is something that will not happen every day in my career, so I will have to really enjoy it tomorrow,” he said.

“There is maybe a chance that I can survive if I feel good. The legs will speak tomorrow. I will enjoy the victory first, but for sure, I had a great preparation at altitude, so why not try? When you have the pink jersey, you have to try to keep it as long as possible.”

Despite the excellence Magnier and his Soudal-QuickStep teammates showed on stage 1, keeping him out of trouble with the late mass crash and delivering him perfectly onto the wheel of Lund Andresen to strike, the Frenchman showed maturity beyond his years as he noted how, “you cannot be too confident”, even after such a success.

Magnier will want to stay grounded as this Giro progresses, but by making this step up with victory on the Grand Tour stage, these next 20 stages could include a second breakthrough for him from top sprint prospect to one of the established best sprinters in the world.

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