Paul Magnier's name is gaining more and more international attention. With his fourth consecutive success today at the Tour of Guangxi, the French sprinter from Soudal Quick-Step has updated his seasonal victory count to 18, an impressive figure for a 21-year-old rider only in his second World Tour year.

To add another pearl to his collection, the young French rider pulled out another ace up his sleeve with a seated sprint that allowed him to maintain a peak of 1230 watts for 15 seconds, which proved unbeatable for anyone. In this way, in the rain that suddenly poured down on the riders after the finish line, Magnier could once again enjoy the festive embrace of his teammates who, for him, had once again put in a significant effort throughout the day.

"I feared this day might be complicated for me from the first climb, but fortunately the breakaway started early and this was good for us. Then we had to work to control it, and after the fatigue accumulated in the previous three days, it wasn't simple," commented the 2004-born rider, who today achieved his third seasonal hat-trick after those at the Okolo Slovenska and CRO Race.

"In the end, the teams fighting for the general classification also helped us close the gap because, considering that the classification will be decided tomorrow with very small gaps, they couldn't leave the breakaway two minutes ahead. The team, therefore, had to work hard all day, so I can only be super happy to have managed to win after a very complicated sprint," Magnier continued before going into more specific details about what happened in the final hundreds of meters.

"I lost the wheel of my last lead-out man, but in the end, I managed to get by starting from far back. By staying seated, with the speed we can achieve here, I might have gained something aerodynamically, but it was still a difficult and very long sprint," revealed the Frenchman, ready tomorrow to work for those who, until today, have squeezed themselves to launch him perfectly in the sprint.

"Tomorrow I will help my teammates who are here to take care of the general classification. They will try to do their best because some, like Antoine Huby, are still without a contract. From my side, I think it's nice, after all the hard work they've done for me these days, if I could reciprocate by helping them approach the final climb in the best possible position. Sunday? It will be tough, but if tomorrow I can save some energy, I will certainly try to throw myself back into the mix."

We'll have to wait for the final stage of this short Chinese stage race to see Magnier in the spotlight again, a race in which the former Trinity Racing rider is showcasing all those qualities refined over recent seasons on the road, which, in reality, he had already hinted at the beginning of his pedaling adventure in mountain bike.

It was on fat tires that, pushed by his father, Magnier took his first steps in the world of cycling competitions, and it's here, progressively earning the spotlight through an increasingly international and prestigious calendar, that he began to polish the talent now so luminous on asphalt.

"I think mountain biking gave me good explosiveness, a characteristic that is very useful today in the classics where efforts are usually shorter than two minutes but repeated several times. This is exactly what you work on in MTB. If then, when you switch to road, you add work on endurance and manage to combine the two things well, you usually end up getting good results," Magnier stated frankly, long seen in the past, before becoming what he is today, measuring himself on the slopes of the Isère and Doubs departments.

"The area around my home, near Grenoble, is mountainous and full of beautiful routes. When I was younger, I also happened to train at Pôle France, near Besançon, and that area is also fantastic for MTB: I have beautiful memories of that place, including with the national jersey."

Because in MTB, Paul didn't just limit himself, as he explained, to "having fun in the junior years", but also competed at a high level in category races, defending his nation's colors profitably, as happened, for example, at the 2022 World Championships in Les Gets, where he won bronze in cross country.

In 2025, Magnier has temporarily set aside MTB races, but, strong of a passion that still burns quite strongly within him, it's not excluded that he might return to pinning a number on his back in off-road racing in the future.

"I would like to participate in some races, but it's quite difficult to do so because the calendars overlap and there's always the risk of falling," he admitted.

"Moreover, if I want it to be fun, I first need to be able to train, and this year, for example, I didn't have much time to do so. In the future, however, I don't rule it out because mountain biking is a discipline I continue to like and I find training itself to be very enjoyable. Seeing myself at the start of World Championships or some World Cup event? I honestly don't think that will happen," he concluded with an honest demeanor, the one who on Sunday could close the season by scoring an almost unrepeatable quintet at the Tour of Guangxi.