Quinn Simmons inches closer to Tour de France selection with Suisse climbing feats

Jim Cotton
·3 min read
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This article originally appeared on Velo News

Quinn Simmons continues inching closer to selection for his first Tour de France.

Simmons lit up the break in the Tour de Suisse on Friday to consolidate his vice-grip on the King of the Mountains prize and come crushingly close to a trip to the WorldTour podium in an unlikely high-mountain setting.

It was another display of Simmons’ sizzling form as he looks to punch his ticket to the Tour de France.

“Nice? I don’t know if I’d describe it like that, it was for sure a hard day. Some nice mountains to look at, at least,” Simmons told reporters at the finish on the 2,000-meter Moosalp summit Friday.

A week repeating his antics at spring’s Tirreno-Adriatico bothering breakaways and harvesting mountains points has seen the once classics-focussed rouleur grow into something much more.

“I’m still trying to figure out what I can do as a rider. A day like today I wanted to test myself on the big climbs - it was a nice challenge,” Simmons said.

 

Coming away unrewarded with fourth Friday confirmed Trek-Segafredo could have a top-level do-it-all domestique at its disposal at the Tour de France next month.

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Simmons was dropped out of the break on the second of two HC summits deep in the Swiss Alps in Friday’s “queen stage.”

The Coloradan soloed his way back and latched on to the leading quartet in the closing 500 meters to nearly turn the final on its head.

“A climb like that for me will always be hard, you could see I was dropped early,” he said.

“I knew as soon as I caught the group I had to just go because I’d been going full for 10k at this point, so at the end, I just didn’t have the kick I needed.”

Simmons has been on the move all week.

The U.S. rider set the tone with a day in the break on stage 1 last Sunday and has carried the KoM jersey for all six stages so far. His near unassailable lead on the climbing classification means he’s all-but-guaranteed to take the Suisse red jersey home with him Sunday.

“I paid a bit for the efforts in the week,” Simmons said at the finish Friday. “Three hard breakaways and the other stages in the group weren’t exactly easy.

“I look forward to the races in the future. But first, some rest.”

Simmons may not get much time for rest. The Tour rolls out in 13 days, and he’s likely to be there.

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