The Giro Next Gen 2024 started under the banner of fulfilled predictions. Yesterday, victory went to the big ITT favourite, Jakob Söderqvist; today, in the Aymavilles – Saint-Vincent, another expected star of this race, Paul Magnier, has taken stage win. Of the 174 riders at the start, this young Frenchman is the one with the most important pedigree, quite simply because he has already won among the pros.
He had taken his first victory in January, at the Trofeo Ses Salines in Mallorca, in his absolute debut among the professionals (!), and then repeated himself at the Tour of Oman. At Soudal-QuickStep, they realised early on that they had a nice diamond on their hands. This winter, in training camps, he happened to beat Tim Merlier at sprints. In short, Magnier is already to all intents and purposes an established member of the Wolfpack, and when it comes to young riders, Patrick Lefevere is rarely wrong.
A resident of Grenoble, Magnier, born in 2004, began cycling at the age of 13 and has since then shown his credentials in both mountain biking (world bronze in the juniors two years ago in Les Gets) and road cycling. In 2022, as a junior, he racked up several victories, including a couple of stages at the prestigious Giro della Lunigiana, where he finished second overall and took home the points jersey, while in 2023, with team Trinity, he impressed in more than one pro race and finished third at the European U23 on the Col du VAM.
“I know it’s not normal for a guy of my age to already be winning in the pros, but I’m in the right team to do it, surrounded by great riders who know how to guide me perfectly, and when it comes to sprinting, we are always among the strongest,’ Magnier said at the start of the year. DS Tom Steels made me captain in my first race as a pro and this confirms how much this team believes in me”.
In order to manage him as best as possible, however, the team also lets him race with the U23s, and now he finds himself in the Maglia Rosa. He is expected to lose it tomorrow, but with a talent like that, better not to put your signature on it.
