Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) used his natural aggression and raw power to win stage 3 of the Tour de Suisse with a solo attack from the breakaway of the day.
The US national champion made sure he was in the six-rider attack and then surged away alone in the Swiss hills near Lake Constance with 20km to go. He opened a 30-second gap and fought to keep it all the way to the finish line in the hilltop spa resort of Heiden.
The peloton looked at each other to lead the chase, and Simmons had time to celebrate his first victory since taking the stars and stripes in May.
Simmons waved his arms, his victory perhaps securing him a place in the Lidl-Trek Tour de France squad.
João Almeida (UAE Tram Emirates-XRG) led home the peloton, ahead of Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL), but they were 18 seconds behind Simmons.
Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ) finished fourth and so kept his race leader's yellow jersey.
Simmons pointed to the sky to remember Gino Mäder, who died at the Tour de Suisse two years ago. Simmons was riding behind Mäder when he crashed and was deeply affected by this death.
"The motivation was super high today. I really wanted to win yesterday, on the two-year anniversary of when we lost Gino. I really wanted to win and dedicate it to him. I did a day late," Simmons explained.
"It's really hard being here for me and seeing his mum at the start. Now I can pay my tribute, and for sure, I had extra motivation for today."
Simmons remembered Mäder and also celebrated his first win as US national champion.
"The first part of my celebration was for me, my jersey. The last time I was in this jersey, I never won a bike race and had a terrible season. That was a huge motivation to win in the American champion's jersey. I'm not sure that last happened at WorldTour level. The final gesture was to dedicate it to Gino."
Romain Gregoire is the overall leader at the Tour de Suisse 2025 (Image credit: Getty Images)
How it unfolded
The 195km stage from Aarau to Heiden was another rolling ride through the Swiss hills, this time east towards Lake Constance and Liechtenstein.
The roads offered another great chance for the breakaway, and riders attacked as soon as the flag was dropped.
The early break formed after a counter-attack, with Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek), Nans Peters (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Max Walker (EF Education-EasyPost) and Emiel Verstrynge (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Brent Van Moer (Lotto) and Samuele Battistella (EF Education-EasyPost) surging away.
The peloton eased, and suddenly they had a 1:40 lead after 15km. Groupama-FDJ took up the chase on the front of the peloton for stage 1 winner and yellow jersey wearer Grégoire.
The stage passed north of Zürich, the host of last year's World Championships, and then Winterthur, where the men's road race began. In a sense of pride, Tudor also helped Groupama-FDJ with the work on the front of the peloton, ensuring the sextet never extended their lead beyond 2:30. Indeed, the chase soon reduced the gap to 1:20 with 100km to race.
Quinn Simmons leads the early breakaway on stage 3 at the Tour de Suisse 2025 (Image credit: Getty Images)
The second half of the stage was far hillier than the first half, with the categorised climbs in the final 40km. That sparked a new wave of tactics and desire to win the stage, with Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ), Alessandor Verre (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), James Knox (Soudal-QuickStep) and Marco Haller (Tudor) forming a counter-attack. It was a good move, but the peloton soon closed them down.
The speed eased, and so the breakaway extended their lead once again. A crash in the feed zone also slowed the peloton. Junior Lecerf (Soudal-QuickStep) and stage 2 runner-up Fabio Christen (Q36.5) went down and were battered and bruised as they chased back onto the split peloton. Sadly, Knox soon abandoned the race.
With 60km to go, another crash happened, this time for Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers). The former Tour de France winner went down as the peloton turned a sharp left at a slow speed. Thomas seemed to twist his left knee or ankle and was clearly in pain as he sat on the road.
The Welshman eventually got going and visited the race doctor's car. However, he lost considerable time and was forced to chase the peloton.
Lucas Hamilton and other teammates soon dropped back to help him, but the peloton was strung out and often in the hills, making it a tough task for Thomas and his Ineos. Thomas was still chasing with 25km to go as he tried to move up through the team cars.
The peloton during stage 3 (Image credit: Getty Images)
The break rode through the intermediate sprint in Hundwil with 40km to go, with the toughest climbs looming. Max Walker was the first to be dropped from the break, followed by Peters. Simmons was clearly targeting the stage victory and was keen to hurt his breakaway companions with huge turns on the front.
Only Simmons, Van Moer, Verstrynge and Battistella were left up front as UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Decathlon AG2R joined the chase and reduced the gap to 1:00.
After a fast descent off the plateau, the 5.1km Knolhusen climb began, and so too did the finale, making it even harder for Thomas to catch the peloton. Ahead of him, the attackers had just a 30-second advantage.
Simmons soon surged away on the climb, making a huge solo effort, but he was the hare for the peloton to chase. Verstrynge, Battistella and Van Moer were soon caught by the peloton over the top of the climb, but Simmons was on a mission to gain as much time as he could. He had a lead of 30 seconds as he started the Büriswilen climb with 10km to go and refused to give in.
The peloton exploded when Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) jumped away. He was caught and passed by Juanpa Lopez (Lidl-Trek), as other riders waited for the final climb to the finish and looked at each other to lead the chase.
Quinn Simmons goes solo on stage 3 at the Tour de Suisse 2025 (Image credit: Getty Images)
Simmons pushed on as the gradient eased and the road descended. The US national champion took risks on the corners but kept his 30-second advantage.
Nielsen Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) tried a solo counter-attack and got a gap on the peloton, but both had left it too late to close down Simmons, who flew to a deserved victory.
Stephen is one of the most experienced member of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. He has been Head of News at Cyclingnews since 2022, before which he held the position of European editor since 2012 and previously worked for Reuters, Shift Active Media, and CyclingWeekly, among other publications.
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