Since turning professional with the Lidl-Trek WorldTour team in 2020, Quinn Simmons has a perfect record at the USPro Road Race National Championships, winning in all three appearances. "I don't know if I could do more than 100%," he said to FloBikes broadcasters after winning on Sunday.
All three of his national road titles have come from aggressive solo riding, with his first USPro road title coming in 2023 in Knoxville, Tennessee. All three times, he earned a spot on the Lidl-Trek team for the Tour de France to showcase the stars-and-stripes jersey.
"It's really important for me to wear this jersey. I think it's super important that it's worn at the biggest races, and we need a top rider in it. So, it will be the third year I get to wear the jersey at the biggest bike race in the world, and you know, for me, that's super special. As an American, I love to race in that jersey in Europe and show it. Now we take it to the Tour," he said.
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"My biggest dream of the whole season is to win a stage [of the Tour de France] wearing this jersey. In order to do that, you have to first get the jersey. So step one complete."
Step two comes in 12 days when the Durango, Colorado rider lines up at his fourth Tour de France. Last year, he competed in the stars-and-stripes national jersey at the Tour, narrowly missing a stage win into Vire Norrmandie on the sixth day of racing. He won stages, however, as the US national champion at the Tour de Suisse a year ago and then at the former Critérium du Dauphiné nearly a year later to set up his effort in West Virginia.
Simmons said one of his motivations for his legs to do more talking was when the team's General Manager, Luca Guercilena, announced he would step down at the conclusion of the Tour de France, having been with the programme for 16 years. Just days later, the 25-year-old won a stage at Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.
"I remember I got a message from my manager, Luca, that he wanted me to win some races for him before he left the team. He's leaving in six weeks, and so far I've done two since he sent me that message. It's kind of nice to pay the team back after years of supporting me," Simmons said, now in a seventh season with Lidl-Trek and his contract up for renewal.
"I think this year is definitely more difficult. Today, it was 100 versus one, so I kind of just had to do it with the legs, and at times it was pretty frustrating."
On Sunday, Simmons was one of three current WorldTour riders who made up the start of 98 elite men, Kevin Vermaerke representing UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Artem Shmidt representing Netcompany Ineos. At the opposite end of the spectrum were ProTeam-level Modern Adventure Pro with 12 riders and Continental-level Project Echelon Racing with nine. Modern Pro featured former road race silver medallists Robin Carpenter and Tyler Stites, while Project Echelon Racing had former USPro runner-up Stephen Bassett and new elite men's criterium champion Luke Elphingstone.
The 198.6km race was marked by attack after attack by riders from Modern Adventure, and in the second half of the 10-lap race, it was Simmons who would accelerate on the Bridge climb to close any gaps by small groups. Across the first half of the 198.6km race, including one by the Modern Adventure duo Ian Lopez de San Roman and Kieran Haug, with two laps to go.
The advantage was wiped away when the Modern Adventure pair were joined by Simmons, Vermaerke, Stites, Larry Warbasse (Tudor Pro) and Ashlin Barry (Visma-Lease a Bike Development) for the final lap. Then Simmons went off solo on the Wertz Avenue climb with 29km to go.
"It's annoying to be outnumbered like that, but at the end of the day, after four hours of racing, there's a difference between the WorldTour guys. I knew as long as I can make it to the point where everyone was tired, there's a good chance to get away. Once everyone's tired, and once you're in a small group like that, it's the legs that can talk.
"Between me and Kevin, it had to be one of the two of us. We decided that at the beginning, so I'm pretty happy with the one-two, and I'm glad it went my way this time," Simmons said on the FloBikes post-race recap.
Simmons said the victory Sunday was made even more special as he won on Father's Day, with his father in attendance in Charleston, West Virginia. The 'Mountaineer State' has been good to Simmons, who won his first national title in 2017 at USA Cycling Mountain Bike Nationals in the men's junior 15-16 cross-country discipline.
"It's been 10 years now that I've been coming to Nationals with Dad. This is our 10th one if you count all the disciplines. So that's a pretty good success ratio for sure to be three-time national champion with him on the side of the road. It's not many guys who can say they did that."
Simmons wasn't spending much time in the US to celebrate his hold on another national jersey, taking a flight back to Europe Monday to join his Lidl-Trek squad for another run at the Tour de France.
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