"It's good preparation for Paris-Nice ": Kevin Vauquelin looks forward to racing in the World Tour

Kevin Vauquelin was thrilled with his overall victory in Tour des Alpes Maritimes et du Var. The Frenchman from Arkéa-Samsic managed to win the opening stage and the GC ahead of Aurélien Paret-Peintre and Neilson Powless.

"I managed to do it after a day under pressure. We stayed in the same tone as the last two days. I trusted my team and my legs, I wanted to do a good overall, at least to win a stage. It started much better than I expected", said Vauquelin in the post-race interview.

This victory marks the first-ever stage win and overall win by Kevin Vauquelin in his professional career. The 21-year-old rider looks forward now to the next races with confidence in particular Paris-Nice. He's managed this after winning the opening stage and then resisting the many attacks throughout the week.

"I knew that I had passed a psychological stage during the winter to take on a real leadership role with a team behind me and I confirmed that I could take on this role in the last three days. It's a good preparation for Paris-Nice where I'm going to measure myself against the World Tour level. A Top 10 would be nice but there are still a lot of stages left", he concluded.