'A lot of firsts this week' - US criterium champion Luke Lamperti earns success at Paris-Nice with a WorldTour victory and a debut stint in leader's jersey

It's common to see Luke Lamperti at the front of the pack in a sprint, but his efforts are typically as a lead-out for a sprint specialist. Now in his sixth year in the pro peloton, the 23-year-old confirmed he could still avoid the label of 'pure sprinter' and instead be satisfied with the distinction of being a WorldTour stage winner.

After 3 hours, 45 minutes of racing on the 171.2km opening stage at Paris-Nice, the young US rider held off a charging peloton in the closing seconds to win his first race at the top level. It was also the first victory of the season for his new team EF Education-EasyPost.

And why stop there? Lamperti also earned his first yellow jersey in a major stage race, taking the GC lead and a chance to defend across seven more days.

"It’s my first win with the team and a nice way to start," Lamperti told organisers and broadcasters after the finish. "To have the jersey and wear the yellow jersey will be super special. It’s my first WorldTour win, my first time wearing a WorldTour yellow Jersey, so a lot of firsts this week but it will be nothing but nice.

"It’s no secret that the team has been struggling, we had a rough start to the year, but we always knew it would come. It’s still early and to get victory here is super nice. The team rode full all day, we committed, and it paid off. We’ve been knocking on the door, but to get the job done is super special."

EF Education-EasyPost teammate Marijn van den Berg set a blazingly-fast pace for the final kilometre, with Lamperti glued to his back wheel. With 200 meters to go, Lamperti then bolted along one side of the course next to the barriers and held off all challengers for the biggest win of his career.

The team noted that the two riders had practiced lead-outs together, and it paid dividends in France on Sunday.

“It was a long sprint,” Marijn said in a team statement. “I am really happy that Luke finished it. It was really hectic. We just tried to stay together because a lot of crashes can happen in those situations. We did that really well and then the positioning was done before the corner.

"I think I went a bit too early, but luckily I had legs to keep going.”

Lamperti has won the US criterium national title three times and the Tulsa Tough omnium two times. He won stages at Czech Tour and had podiums at Tour of Oman with Soudal-QuickStep the last two seasons. But now he has a stage at Paris-Nice. He said it may have appeared to be 'pure' sprint win, but it was just a matter of timing.

"To say I'm a pure sprinter, I don't think so, even though on paper, this is a pure sprint. But of course, I think I can still contend when everything goes right in the pure sprints," the California rider said.

"I'm more of a Classics rider, a strong sprinter. The climbs today, before the finish, were quite hard. Marijn was super good in the final, and we got it perfect. It takes a lot in cycling to win, everything has to go right. You have to be in good form. And a lot of things add up. And I think today everything went right."

He competed with the team in Australia to start the season early in January, earning a top 10 on one stage of Tour Down Under, finishing 12th at Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race and once on European soil found the podium with third on stage 1 at Tour de la Provence.

“I know I’ve been going well so to actually get a win and get the momentum rolling, especially as a sprinter, is really important. For me it’s the biggest win of my career and will be good for the rest of the season and before the Classics."

Paris-Nice has served as a proving ground for a number of young US riders, most recently with Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) winning back-to-back overall titles at the Race to the Sun. His victory in 2024, at the age of 24, was his first major GC win.

Lamperti is now the fourth US rider to have won the overall at Paris-Nice, joining Jorgenson, Floyd Landis (2006) and Bobby Julich (2005).

"The goal now is to keep that jersey on the shoulders for as long as possible. I think when you have a jersey, you want to honor it," Lamperti said.

"Of course, tomorrow is also, on paper, quite an OK stage for me. So I think for sure I want to hold the jersey. And then the TTT is difficult, but we have a strong group. We take it day by day."

Monday's stage 2 should have Lamperti's attention, as it has a flat finish after 187km. There are a series of three category 3 climbs early on, then a flat run into Montargis.