Quinn Simmons puts Lidl-Trek Tour de France selectors on notice with Dauphiné stage 4 win

The breakaway finally got their moment in stage 4 of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes — and when you say breakaway specialist in this race, you mean Quinn Simmons. The American of Lidl-Trek won the hilly stage, and he was driven by the memory of a missed opportunity earlier in the week. With this victory, he hopes to have put himself firmly in the frame for the Tour de France.

Simmons was part of a strong twelve-man breakaway that formed around a hundred kilometres from the finish. With forty kilometres to go the group's lead had fallen to under a minute, but the big engines in the break kept working and just held off the peloton. Simmons then won the sprint convincingly.

The American champion's last victory had been at the Tour de Suisse a year ago — almost exactly twelve months earlier. "Behind the Tour, this is the biggest stage race of the year for us, so to come here and take a stage is great. It's been a year since I put my hands in the air, so it's pretty special."

Simmons has started the Tour de France three times, and was magnificent as a breakaway rider last year. The victory at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes comes at exactly the right moment. "The biggest six weeks of our season is right now, so to have a confirmation that the form is there is really nice, and I hope I can keep going like this."

He had been looking to make his mark earlier in the week too. Stage 2 was a day the 25-year-old from Durango had earmarked for himself, but he missed the break — and not for lack of legs. "Two days ago I thought I could win a stage, but we needed to save the legs for the team time trial, so today I was finally unleashed, and I wanted to get the job done."

Simmons had already made a tremendous impression in the team time trial, but he had the legs to go even harder the day after. "I was a bit scared when they only gave us two minutes — I was hoping for a bit more — but in the end, it plays to my favour when the break has to ride hard the whole way. If we have to play games in the final, for sure I would be marked. I've never won a sprint before, so that's kinda good."

Will we see Simmons in Barcelona for the Grand Départ? It seems a logical conclusion, but the arrival of Juan Ayuso has reshuffled Lidl-Trek's plans somewhat. "The Tour is the biggest goal for everyone — it's easy to say that — and I was quite sure I was going to be there, but you have to show your form. Yesterday and today I showed that, so I'd say hopefully I'm there in July."

Author: David Bavin-Hobbs - [email protected]