Trek-Segafredo heeft gisteren een punt gezet achter zijn trainingskamp op Mallorca. Als we radio peloton mogen geloven, dan heeft Quinn Simmons meermaals zijn visitekaartje afgegeven aan zijn ploegmaats. Ploegleider Steven de Jongh vertelt wat we mogen verwachten van het 18-jarige Amerikaanse...
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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. "