Arvid de Kleijn has delivered Tudor Pro Cycling the first World Tour stage victory for Tudor Pro Cycling. In the second stage of Paris-Nice, the Dutchman turned out to be the fastest sprinter of the bunch.
De Kleijn had been chasing a WorldTour victory for quite some time and was utmostly excited to finally achieve that goal. Despite three second places in the UAE Tour, the sprinter and his teammates remained calm in the sprinter’s stage in Paris-Nice, De Kleijn said after his first WorldTour victory.
“We have Matteo (Trentin) here in our group, and he knows exactly what to do in these kinds of sprint stages. He told us to stay calm till the end. Ultimately, he did an amazing pull in the final. I then had the two Duchies in front of me (Rick Pluimers and Maikel Zijlaard) who did an incredible job today.”
“It was such a team effort,” De Kleijn continued. “We are making big steps, and I am happy to see that I can still make improvements, and it’s special to be doing this with the guys.”
Also Fabian Cancellara, the team owner, was happy with the first WorldTour victory of the team. The BMC ambassador said: “This season already started well for us. It showed how big of a step we took as a team, but this victory at Paris-Nice is a huge leap and shows that we can compete with the best teams in the world.”
Raphael Meyer, CEO of Tudor Pro Cycling, commented: “This is the first World Tour victory for our team and a huge step for our organisation. The magnitude of this victory is one thing, the way the boys rode today is another. We couldn‘t be prouder.”