Max Kanter in tears after first WorldTour win: "Mike Teunissen was amazing!"

Max Kanter wanted to win more this season than in recent years. On Monday afternoon, he secured the biggest victory of his career so far at Paris-Nice 2026, sprinting to victory in a reduced bunch sprint in Montargis. The 28-year-old German from XDS Astana was moved to tears.

"This is truly incredible," Kanter sobbed. Recently, he shared with WielerFlits in the Alpecin Barbershop why winning has been so difficult for him. "I’ve been waiting for this for so long. I also really have to thank my team XDS Astana. The past few weeks haven’t been easy for me because I faced a few setbacks. It’s truly a dream to win here. Paris-Nice is such a highly regarded race. I’m really very happy with this!"

The German has no idea where he found the strength to win on Monday. "I tried to stay as focused as possible. I have so many people of high quality around me in my life now, and they support me in the best possible way. This victory is for all of them. I’m gaining a lot of confidence from this, especially since the recent period hasn’t been my best. I totally didn’t expect this."

The day before, Kanter was feeling very bad. "And now suddenly I win," he says with a look of disbelief. He also praised his sprint lead-out man Mike Teunissen. "It was really chaotic with two kilometers to go. We lost a lot of positions. But Mike Teunissen kept calm, he was amazing! He brought me back to the front on the last roundabout and then launched the sprint at full power. And no one could pass us after that!"