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Quinn Simmons is the new Quinn Simmons

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Could this schedule be correct? It seems insanely ambitious.


I dont think I agree,

The classics will of course be tough and I will be surprised if he makes a big result. He is not doing all the races that you could do though, and it is most likely just to gain experience. He probably wont finish some of them.

Etiole de Bessegnes, Tour de Hongrie and BinckBank Tour seems like pretty good races for him to go to in his first year.
 
The schedule is already confirmed and i don't think that it is too much. Only thing i don't know is if he rides all Mallorca races, but racing 3/4 instead of all 4 wouldn't be a big deal either.
I think it is good that he gets the chance to race PR. I expect a DNF, but it's never too early to learn how these races are playing out. Good to get experience early.
 
Definitely not a problem in terms of race days. Less than 25 and i imagine his season is pretty much over in August.

But the month between Omloop and Paris Roubaix, i have to agree, seems pretty ambitious. Like i said, most of those races are raced hard, and those race days can't becompared to Tour of Turkey, Algarve or other third tier 1 week stage races, where the peloton often doesn't ride faster than a well trained bunch of amateurs.

If he really wants to learn from those races, he also needs to be there where he can actually learn something. And by that i mean not in the back of the peloton and getting off the bike after 150k. So i think it is a trade off. The longer and harder he races, the more he will learn.

I don't mean he can't learn anything regardless (just finding out it's tougher than you expected can be valuable as well), but i'm not convinced riding the first 160k in the back of the peloton in PR, getting off before it even starts, will be more valuable than racing a 190k race of lesser statue where he can finish and maybe even ride a nice finale (let's say, Denain). What i mean is, i can't imagine him riding this schedule with the intention of DNF'ing every time.
 
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Google translated:

Will Simmons surprise in Flanders? "Not every year an Evenepoel emerges"

Quinn Simmons won the junior world title last year.

Trek-Segafredo yesterday put an end to its training camp on Mallorca. If we may believe radio peleton, Quinn Simmons has repeatedly given his calling card to his team mates. Team leader Steven de Jongh tells us what we can expect from the 18-year-old American gold nugget, who was still the world champion among the juniors last year.


"If Quinn flew on stage? He certainly did"

Thanks to a favorable wind, some clear messages blew our way from Mallorca: Quinn Simmons flew at the training camp of Trek-Segafredo. The only 18-year-old American became the junior world champion in September and is already standing for his debut with the pros.

"Whether he flew on Mallorca? Yes, he certainly did", team leader Steven de Jongh told Sporza. "Quinn has been in Europe for a while. He came to Sicily in December and he did not return to the US at the end of the year. He went to Mallorca with his father and we have had our training camp there."

"Quinn was indeed on stage very well. He is in good shape, because he has trained a lot this winter and he is looking forward to his debut at the end of this month in the Challenge Mallorca."

"Next comes the Star of Bessèges and then he travels to Belgium. From February to mid-April he will stay in Belgium, where he will first explore many courses. And then he will get a nice program for the Flemish courses."


"He watches the finals of Paris-Roubaix during training sessions on the rollers"

Are the Flemish hills and cobblestone strips really bacon to the mouth of the American purebred horse? "The classics are his preference and he wants to stick his nose to the window. But Quinn is still so young and can still develop very fast," says his Dutch sports director.

"Quinn is very talented and is in good shape after this winter. But now you still have to do it in the competitions. The champions of the training camps are, for the rest, it doesn't help you much."

"But he is very driven to immediately get involved with the big ones. During training on the reels, he looks at the Paris-Roubaix finals. He is young, but he is very ambitious and is busy with his profession."

"The way he is driving now, I expect that he won't hit a muddy figure and that he can stand his ground in the peloton. But cycling is a team sport and he will also have to learn to take on a servant role once in a while. You propose the classics the best team, not the strongest individual riders. "

"For Quinn, that may be a new situation, because with Juniors, everything revolved around him. But he will certainly get opportunities with us. It is still too early to say that he will be riding the Tour of Flanders or Paris-Roubaix, but in races such as the GP Denain, Nokere Koerse, the GP Samyn or Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne he can certainly show himself. "


"Spring team wants to prove that 2019 was a mistake"

Anyone who says Quinn Simmons soon says Remco Evenepoel. Our countryman also overcame everyone among the juniors and immediately switched to the pros. And everyone knows how stormy Evenepoel's debut year was with the pros. Does Simmons also have the potential to break pots so quickly?

Steven de Jongh: "He can certainly provide the ability to do that, we saw that during the previous internship. But what Remco did is very special. I don't think such a rider will get up every year. For it would be great fun for us, of course. But a slightly slower development and then breaking pots, that's good too. "

With Simmons on board, Trek-Segafredo already has an extra weapon. "Our spring team wants to prove that the spring of 2019 was a shame. They had a good late season, including Jasper Stuyven who started winning again and Mads Pedersen who became world champion. The atmosphere in that classic group is really good. They want all go for it. "
 
I do enjoy literal translations of idioms: something being "bacon in his mouth" sounds like one I might try to drop into English conversation. Breaking pots, not so much.
Surely that would be "bacon to the beak". But yes, there are always plenty of such examples when google translating a sizable portion of text. At least from Dutch. Not sure if other languages rely on them as much.
 
But so do the numbers of about 50 other guys who have more experience. It's not just about the numbers, or Evenepoel could have won the TDF two years ago, so to speak.
I think you're mostly right; tactics and positioning are important in a 6 hour hard race.
But on the other hand Remco may win the Giro d'Italia this year. It sounds crazy; Grand Tours are a different beast and he is untested. However, he is clearly more talented than Pogacar and if he has the endurance to go three weeks, his numbers indicate he can win.
 
I think you're mostly right; tactics and positioning are important in a 6 hour hard race.
But on the other hand Remco may win the Giro d'Italia this year. It sounds crazy; Grand Tours are a different beast and he is untested. However, he is clearly more talented than Pogacar and if he has the endurance to go three weeks, his numbers indicate he can win.
While i agree i think Evenepoel is more of a physical outlier than Pogacar, i wouldn't say he's more talented per se, or expect him to win the Giro this year, lol.

But anyway, not to get off-topic, Remco also had the numbers last year, but he needed 6 months to really make a dent. I would be surprised if Simmons would transition in a way that he would be a contender by march-april.
 
While i agree i think Evenepoel is more of a physical outlier than Pogacar, i wouldn't say he's more talented per se, or expect him to win the Giro this year, lol.

But anyway, not to get off-topic, Remco also had the numbers last year, but he needed 6 months to really make a dent. I would be surprised if Simmons would transition in a way that he would be a contender by march-april.
Again, you're probably right. Will be interesting to see what his role in the team is at PR.
 
In the meanwhile the young man has also started his professional career. So far nothing out of the ordinary (positive or negative compared to what could realistically be expected) from what i could tell, although i did expect more in the Etoile de Bessèges ITT, considering this was one of the disciplines he excelled at. He finished 23rd in a relatively modest ITT lineup. Although the final 2k did rise +/- 125m in altitude from what i can tell by the stage profile.
 
Interview with Directvelo

-"I manage to hang on to the peloton and I know that the rest will come gradually. There are still a lot of little details to work on but I have time to work on them."

-"I know that I’m already at a relatively high level and that I’m not far from being competitive in big races."

-"If there are opportunities to do something, I have to go for it. The Classics suit me well, I'm ready to do battle."

-riding PR to learn and help Stuyven/Pedersen

-maybe he will ride the u23 Worlds ITT

-"Peter Sagan already won stages of the Tour of California at 19… (20 years, note). I think I can do the same. It will take a lot of work and a little luck"
 
He finished all of his first 8 racing days which isn't something I took for granted before the season began. He was ok in the ITT, although not particularyl good (fatigue might have played a role).

Our perspective is probably a bit twisted because of Remco, but let's be honest: being competitive in a few one day races would already be a successful neo-pro season for Simmons. Anything else is a (welcomed) bonus.
 
Earlier than Remco Evenepoel


5e4478af7f513.jpg


EDIT: ah, this is the same article F_Cance already posted a few posts up.
 
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Earlier than Remco Evenepoel


5e4478af7f513.jpg


EDIT: ah, this is the same article F_Cance already posted a few posts up.
If he shaves the beard, he'll probably take off another 10-20 seconds in a long time trial. :laughing:
 

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