If you're not going to start with L'Équipe today, when will you ever? Across the Alps, the pink jersey for Magnier deserves a nice front-page headline and thus the two inside pages that consecrate the entry of another Paul into the club of the greats. We noticed a certain predilection of correspondent Julien Chesnais for non-didactic descriptions of the places where the races take place, and we appreciated that spirit of observation with which he highlighted the protruding iron beams. He spoke of dilapidated buildings, not of the "feet" of the barriers, though they have become (back in the news) in today's reports, not all but already evoked in the headline on both Repubblica and Il Giornale.

In the Corriere, however, the massive crash receives a different interpretation: "Who knows if today's kids still challenge each other at Shanghai, the game where you have to pull a wooden stick from a castle of a hundred without making the castle collapse. Yesterday the first sprint of the 109th Giro was a colossal Shanghai and the fatal stick was the tubular of a rider, gone mad 600 meters from the finish line. These things happen at 60 kilometers per hour".

L'ÉQUIPE
IN THE COURT OF THE GREATS
Paul Magnier, 22 years old, made his place in the pantheon of sprinters yesterday in Burgas (Bulgaria), winning the first stage of the Giro and thus wearing the pink jersey.

From afar, on the opposite side of the Atanasovsko salt lake (Bulgaria), Burgas revealed itself in its length like a miniature New York, with that haze surrounding the roofs of the decrepit hotels from the communist era, immobile rows of which we don't know if they are ruins or about to rise, with those exposed iron beams. In this drab setting, Paul Magnier emerged from the boulevard of Demokratsia to light up the powerful pink of the jersey that fell on his shoulders after his first grand tour victory. (Julien Chesnais)

GAZZETTA DELLO SPORT
GIRO, FEAR AND SURPRISE (PAGES 1-7)

It was the day of the other Paul who makes French cycling dream: therefore not Seixas, already capable of dueling (almost) closely with Tadej Pogacar, but Magnier, first pink jersey of the Giro d'Italia at just 22 years old. You see him shouting against the sky of Burgas, Bulgaria, the opening finish of the 109th edition of the Gazzetta's race, at the end of a tense and chaotic sprint with the added thrill of a massive crash 650 meters from the white line, triggered involuntarily by Norwegian Blikra. You see him incredulous being overwhelmed by the embrace of his teammates. You hear him emotionally recount "a dream become reality", and you understand how powerful the force of the Giro is and its most iconic symbol, which the Frenchman wanted to keep close to his bed before wearing it again this morning: "It's to live days like this that I pedal". (Ciro Scognamiglio)

CORRIERE DELLA SERA (PAGES 50-51)
EMOTIONS IN THE SPRINT
First pink jersey for Frenchman Magnier: "I could have finished with my eyes closed" Vingegaard keeps away from trouble, the regret of Italian Johnny Milan

Who knows if today's kids still challenge each other at Shanghai, the game where you have to pull a wooden stick from a castle of a hundred without making the castle collapse. Yesterday the first sprint of the 109th Giro was a colossal Shanghai and the fatal stick was the tubular of a rider, gone mad 600 meters from the finish line. These things happen at 60 kilometers per hour. The unfortunate slider should be one of the Norwegians from Uno X, but the little Fantozzian cloud obscured the images from the helicopter and made identification difficult. Thirty riders hit the ground, some bouncing on the asphalt, some against the barriers, some tangling with a teammate or a frame. Nobody got hurt but the boulevard of Burgas remained blocked like the Grande Raccordo Anulare in Rome during rush hour: ten ahead to fight for success, the rest waiting for mechanics and medics to untangle the mess. (Marco Bonarrigo)

REPUBBLICA
MAGNIER FRENCH PINK IMMEDIATELY CRASHES AND CONTROVERSY (PAGE 39)
The sprint in Bulgaria goes to the young sprinter, Milan 4th, many on the ground because of dangerous barriers.

The first pink jersey of the Giro is French, it hasn't happened since 1992, and a young, formidable sprinter born in Texas for his father's profession, an engineer in an American multinational, took it by force. Paul Magnier actually lives in Grenoble, where climbers are generally born. His idol was Tom Boonen, he's in his third year as a pro, in 2025 he won 19 races, just one less than Pogacar. All sprints, all at the speed of 70 kilometers per hour like yesterday in Burgas, on a road that at one point became a narrow passage full of hazards... (Cosimo Cito)

LA STAMPA
Giro, Magnier immediately in pink jersey Attacks and avoids the massive crash
Italy bows to France and to Paul Magnier, 22 years old, rider of Soudal Quick-Step who, in Bulgaria, takes the first pink jersey of the Giro. In a restricted group sprint, he had the burst and quickness. He exploited the work of his teammate, Belgian Jasper Stuyven, 34 years old and a Milano-Sanremo in 2021, then got on the wheel of Lund Andersen (Decathlon) and passed him. Smart to get out of the group of pursuers, victims of a massive crash. (Daniela Cotto)

IL GIORNALE
FRENCH PINK
In Burgas final massive crash. Fault of vintage barriers that reappeared in Bulgaria (does nobody check?). Milan loses out (4th), first jersey to the Frenchman Magnier

It's a tricolor arrow, but it's not ours. It's French, just 22 years old: after Paul Seixas, new prodigy for stage races who is 19 years old, here comes bursting onto the finish line of Burgas Paul Magnier, sprinter of Soudal-Quick Step, already considered the heir of Belgian Tom Boonen. The first pink jersey is his. He conquers it by force ahead of the noses of Dane Andersen (Decathlon) and Briton Vernon (Nsn): Milan is fourth. From Paul to Paul, when we were waiting for the flight of the Seagull Jonny Milan. The Friuli rider has the fortune of staying on his feet when 650 meters from the finish line the group breaks apart due to a massive crash caused by the malicious feet of barriers now "vintage", which haven't been used for years, which nobody quite knows how they could have reappeared in a race as important as the Giro d'Italia. (Pier Augusto Stagi)

TUTTOSPORT
MAGNIER CLIMBS THE GIRO
But that finish... narrow passage and crash

Call him a climber if you want. But: Paul Magnier, French indeed with an empathetic gaze and a wide smile, in his junior racing days felt cut out for pedaling hard when the gradient under the wheels became steep. Beyond his considerable build, even more so. Well, the big transalpine guy, born and raised in Texas though, at the tender age of 22 has already collected 27 victories among the professionals. (Daniele Galosso)

CORRIERE DELLO SPORT
MAGNIER BELIEVES IN IT
"Tied to Italy I live a dream" The disappointed one is Milan The first pink jersey of the Giro d'Italia starting from Bulgaria is French. A crossing of flags and nations on the shores of the Black Sea in the opening stage of the one hundred and ninth edition which saw Paul Magnier cross the finish line of Burgas with arms raised after a restricted sprint due to a massive crash at less than 500 meters. (Alberto Dolfin)