'It's going to be the most beautiful of my life' - Tejada jubilant after first WorldTour victory

Harold Tejada, coming into the 2026 Paris-Nice, had been in solid form, taking a third on the stage and performing towards the upper echelon of the general classification at the UAE Tour after a battling performance saw the Colombian take 4th on Jebel Mobrah, so one would assume Tejada's first WorldTour victory was over the horizon.

Tejajda had previously lifted his arms before, but that was in his native Colombia at the 2.1 Tour of Colombia. Speaking on his achievement in Apt in his post-race interview to Cyclingpro.net, Tejada said, "This is the most important victory. I think it's going to be the most beautiful of my life because the first one is always special, especially with this level of competition."

Tejada, with the victory, moves himself into the top ten of the general classification, and on the stage finished ahead of proven riders, including the likes of two-time Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard, although it wasn't necessarily a stage suited to the Dane.

Tejada's victory perhaps came against the odds as the Colombian experienced a mechanical problem on the penultimate climb, which led directly into the final climb. On the incident and to fight back from it, Tejada said, "Well, on the penultimate climb I had a mechanical problem, I had to change bikes and then the team did a phenomenal job," said Tejada. XDS-Astana sent the majority of its team to work to bring back Tejada to a prime position to compete, and they did so at nearly the last opportunity.

Tejada fought for position on the final climb and used his knowhow of the course to fully launch a dash for the line, "I tried to get back into the group, we were cut off before the last climb, as soon as I got back in position, I started to climb at the front, I knew a little bit that if I reached the top at the front and had the leg strength I had to attack, even if I was just barely hanging on."

XDS-Astana will be aiming to make up further ground in the general classification over the weekend, with Tejada stating in his post-stager reaction that the team, which is placed second in the 2026 UCI rankings, was originally aiming to finish on the podium of the general classification.