While not all WorldTour victories carry quite the same prestige, Paul Magnier (Soudal-QuickStep) certainly would have felt the weight of his second one at the Tour of Guangxi on Tuesday, as nigh-on ten microphones were clipped to his jersey and thrust toward his face ahead of his translated debrief with local media in China.
Sitting down to speak to eventually speak with the anglophone press, Magnier couldn't help but look ahead to 2026 as his red-hot form from the end of the season continued into October and he took down his 15th win of the year, leaving him with the equal second-most victories behind only Tadej Pogačar.
"The last few months have been amazing, and the team has really believed in me for the last part of the season," Magnier told reporters in Fangchenggang. "I've been feeling stronger and stronger, and the team also gives 100 per cent for me, so I'm super happy to take so many victories.
"Today was my second WorldTour victory, which I'm very proud of, and I do still have to focus on my development, but I'm super happy with my season, and I'm really motivated for the next few stages."
The Frenchman's teammate Tim Merlier and Isaac del Toro (UAE Emirates-XRG) are the other two riders with 15 wins so far this year, but with likely four more chances in China to come this week, it looks as though Magnier could finish with the outright second-most among male pros in 2025 – quite the achievement at only 21.
Magnier has been on a real charge ever since he found a maiden WT success at the Tour de Pologne, and he backed that up with dominant displays in Slovakia and Croatia, where he took four wins at each.
But he's well aware that with so much success will come more expectation that he will play a vital role as one of Soudal-QuickStep's key leaders in the coming years, alongside Merlier, as they move away from their previous GC ambitions after the departure of Remco Evenepoel.
"I think I still need to progress in a bit of everything, but I'm really looking forward to the Classics next season," said Magnier, as he realised his change in status.
"Now that the team are really invested in the Classics for next year, we will have a very strong team, and I think we are trying to build a squad around me and Tim [Merlier].
"The goal is to have as strong a [lead-out] train as possible for the sprints and a strong field for the classics. This is the mentality of the team for the next few seasons, and I'm really looking forward to it."
Magnier gave big credit to the lead-out train who have made the journey out east with him to China, after a big crash on the wide roads of the finale threatened to deny him an opportunity at sprinting for the win.
Despite a split in the peloton forming as riders hit the deck, Dries Van Gestel did enough to close it down, allowing the Frenchman to power past those who were beginning to falter and celebrate yet another victory.
"It was the first time I really had the opportunity to sprint on the straight and big roads like this," said Magnier.
"I was a bit nervous in the last few kilometres because I was scared about finding the space, but Černý and Van Gestel did a super nice job to give me the space to sprint, and in the last 200 metres I was still feeling super strong and fresh, so I made it to the line.
"I think the crash happened just on my left, so it made me a bit scared, but I made it without crashing. I saw that we had a small gap, but Dries just closed it, then I had the speed to sprint with a big gear to the final."
There was potential that Magnier wouldn't have had as big a gear as he would have liked and used on stage 1, though, had a BCA and SRAM appeal not prevented the UCI from running the gear restriction test they had planned for the men's WorldTour finale.
"I think with the 54[-tooth chainring] there we could not really do a sprint, and I'm happy that we could sprint with the 56 here," said Magnier, who made his position clear. "We'll see it in the future if there is a restriction again, but for me, it doesn't make that much sense."
