After Alcare Samsic's Nairo Quintana scored his sixth win of the season for his new French professional team at Sunday's Tour des Alpes-Maritimes et du Var, and also won last week's Tour de la Provence to claim his second consecutive overall stage race victory He praised his teammates, the team's staff and fans.

Although the French team is still operating at the ProTeam level (the new name for the Pro Continental team), Arcare has signed a number of star riders in the off-season, putting it on par with many WorldTour teams in both name and reality.

In addition to acquiring Quintana, Arkea also acquired Colombian compatriot and former Movistar teammate Winner Anacona, recalled British sprinter and former team member Dan McRae from EF Pro Cycling, and acquired Nasser Bouhanni from Cofidis The team acquired.

Quintana won the second stage of the three-day Tour des Alpes Maritimes et du Var on Saturday, the Col d'Eze climb, to lead the race from opening stage winner Anthony Perez (Cofidis). Then, on Sunday's third and final stage from La Ronde to Mont Faron, he defended the race from Romain Bardet of AG2R La Mondiale and Richie Porte of Trek-Segafredo.

"I am full of joy and emotion this evening at Mont Fallon. I'm very happy because as a team we were able to show how great we are," Quintana said in a team press release. [Winning the overall at the Tour des Alpes Maritimes et du Var is another success for the Arkea-Samsic team and our partners who support us. It's also a great victory for our fans and the beginning of a new story to tell with the team."

"Today, from the start to the end of the stage, the whole team worked hard for me. I'm very proud of my team, they all worked very hard for me from the start to the end of the stage, and I'm very proud of them. But this win is a great accomplishment for the whole team."