Performance of the day didn't come from Pogacar, but from the unbelievable Quinn Simmons: "Bit scared of him"

On the Passo di Ganda, the last obstacle to eternal glory, Simmons was overtaken by the expected winner, Tadej Pogacar. As he descended, he saw Remco Evenepoel and Michael Storer disappear from view. However, with a fourth place in the day's results, Simmons still had a tangible reminder of a great day at the front.

The now 24-year-old American was part of a strong breakaway that pulled away from the peloton just 3 kilometers from the start and thus 238 kilometers (!) from the finish. He had no teammates from Lidl-Trek with him and therefore went solo on the Passo della Crocetta, 82 kilometers from the finish. There, he kept pace with the peloton led by UAE, but the other breakaway riders lost ground.

When Simmons was still defending a lead of just under three minutes at the foot of the Passo di Ganda, it seemed that something might be possible. But it was the teams of Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step) and Pogacar (UAE) that brought the gap back to two minutes. When Pogacar then let his team ride and attacked, Simmons was caught 5 kilometers below the summit.

The American champion tried to keep up with them for a bit longer. “I wasn't able to say anything to him, and he couldn't say anything to me either. But it was an impressive race by Quinn, a really great ride,” Pogacar said when asked by Eurosport. “We were already a little scared of him on the penultimate climb because he's a dangerous rider. But on the final climb, everything turned out fine.”

Completely exhausted, Simmons eventually finished in fourth place. “What. A. Ride,” Lidl-Trek wrote with praise via its official channels.