Quinn Simmons is once again a winner on cycling’s world stage. The 23-year-old Durangoan won the sixth stage of the Volta a Catalunya on Saturday.
It’s Simmons’ first WorldTour victory and his first victory in almost two years.
Riding for Lidl-Trek, Simmons made his move inside one kilometer to break away from a small group of attackers and crossed the finish line in Berga, Spain, with the win.
It was an ever-changing stage layout; the stage was planned to go 159 kilometers from Berga to a summit finish at Queralt, Spain. But there were winds up to 100 km per hour that changed everything.
The course was changed and cut, beginning and ending in Berga with a flat route without the biggest planned climbs. The beginning of the new stage was neutralized until approximately 28 km left.
“It’s probably the strangest day of my career,” Simmons said in an interview after the race on nbcsports.com. “First we race, then we don’t, then we do a short race, then we do two laps, and in the end, we only did 28 km in the end. It’s a bit surprising to be here because, to be honest, I was one of the riders voting that we don’t start when we felt the wind today. But in the end, it’s a WorldTour race; my first WorldTour victory so it’s super special.”
Simmons also said the short race was super nerve-wracking, especially since the riders didn’t know when the start would happen. He also said it felt great to get a win in this race because he lives in Girona, Spain, and since there isn’t a WorldTour race in the U.S., it feels like a home race for Simmons.
In an article on Cyclingnews.com, Simmons said one of his big goals for the rest of the season is to get on the Lidl-Trek Tour de France team in July.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
