Quinn Simmons' Strava shows exactly what it takes to compete at the World Championships: ‘I said, Hey guys, anything is possible'

All eyes were on the Belgians in Montreal, who—with Wout van Aert and Remco Evenepoel, plus a rock-solid lineup—seemed to be the favorites. But it was the United States that firmly held the reins in the final. Simmons made the first move, after which McNulty countered. Simmons and Jorgenson were then invaluable to their teammate in the chase.

That sacrifice was absolutely essential to clinch the world title. “We’re all on different teams, but after last night’s meeting, we said: ‘No matter what, an American has to finish on the podium,’” Simmons explains. “I said, ‘Hey guys, anything is possible. We’re racing for the podium, but we can do even better if we ride like this.” And that’s exactly what we did.”

Simmons himself was also extremely active in Montréal, especially in the early stages of the final. The 25-year-old American tagged along with Van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel when they made their move 90 kilometers from the finish. It was a long way—still a very long way—but for Captain America, there was no choice. He knew he had to stay with them.

"If Van der Poel and Wout make a move, you have to trust their instincts. I think they're pretty good cyclists," he laughs. "I also knew that if the better climbers went, I probably wouldn't be able to keep up. Being up there at the front and giving Jorgenson and McNulty a chance to sit on gave us two options to win."

Simmons did indeed struggle on the climbs in the final, but thanks to some squabbling among the chasers, he was able to catch up again and do his job for McNulty. Once the victory was secured, the American champion joined the battle for the medals. He fell just short with a fourth-place finish, but that doesn’t bother him. “Whatever! Who cares about missing a medal when your team takes the jersey?”

And so the U.S. ended up with three riders in the top ten: Jorgenson finished eighth. It was a top-notch race by the Americans, and Simmons made a great impression.

He showed via his Strava that the race was even crazier than we saw: over nearly 6.5 hours of racing, Simmons averaged 291 watts, with a normalized power of 361 watts. The peak? Nearly 1,100. “Someone, play ‘Freebird’!” reads Ricky Bobby’s caption.