Luke Lamperti takes 'biggest win of my career' in Paris-Nice - "It's no secret that the team struggled"

Stage 1 of Paris-Nice was a day where the sprinters managed to fight for the win, and most were in contention by the time the peloton arrived for the final time at Carrières-sous-Poissy. Luke Lamperti took an American win for the American EF Education-EasyPost team, the biggest of his career and also the team's first of the season.

It was a win that was searched via multiple scenarios. "That's why we had Max Walker in the breakaway and Alex Baudin jumping on the climb," he explained in a post-race interview. Despite having two cards to play in a sprint, the team has Max Walker join the day's breakaway which did threaten to take the win; whilst Alex Baudin covered the only attack that happened on the climb with 11 kilometers to the finish line where the peloton could've potentially exploded. However, everything came back together whilst Lamperti and Marijn van den Berg followed wheels in the peloton.

In the final kilometer, and with limited leadouts, the EF duo jumped to the head of the peloton at the right moment, with van den Berg leading out Lamperti who took the stage win, and also the yellow jersey on the opening day of the race.

"It's no secret that the team struggled. We had a difficult start to the season. Winning here is fantastic. For me, it's also my first victory for the team. It's great to start like this," he admits.

The seventh win of his career, but the biggest one and first at World Tour level. "This is the biggest win of my career. It's very important to gain momentum as a sprinter. So this is also good for the rest of the season."

Marijn Van den Berg was crucial to the team's success, sacrificing his chances to leadout the American sprinter - a tactic which ultimately proved to be the right one. Whilst the two can switch roles later in the week, this victory makes it a success already.

"We just tried to stay together, because in situations like that, you can easily crash. I think we did very well. We positioned ourselves well for the last corner. I attacked a bit too early, but luckily I had the legs to continue sprinting," he concluded.