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I've spotted him at the back of the peloton with 70 something km to go yesterday.
He was struggling.
A normal opening weekend on cobbles for a teenager, I'd say.
Even if there is no real issue, the question remains: what's the point? Why kick off with an incredibly ambitious schedule, if you're going to get kicked out the back or getting off the bike before the race even starts? What's he learning? How to "give up"? Is this motivation for an 18 year old? The only lesson he's learning is that he's got a long way to go. Ok, lesson learned... no wait, there are half a dozen races coming up that are even harder than those you just DNF'd. Ah, but he got the chance to ride next to the big boys. It makes no sense.I don't see a problem with his program - He's mainly riding one day races where there is no pressure to perform or finish as opposed to a stage race where he has a more defined role.
When i first commented on his schedule, i mentioned Denain for one. It's like a mini Paris Roubaix / Strade Bianche. Mathieu van der Poel won it last year against a fairly mellow field of competition. In my mind, a race like that would be ideal for Simmons.There are a lot of easier and less competitive one day races on cobbles too, if that's really his cup of tea.
He's talking about "tomorrow another shot" so i assume this was from saturday?Looks like he crashed hard Saturday or Sunday. Bike in two pieces.Login • Instagram
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He's scheduled for PR. And i'm personally not insisting the schedule is too much, but that i'm wondering if there is any point in it and if he wouldn't learn and benefit more from a less ambitious schedule.Let's see if they really throw Simmons in the deep end and send him to RvV and P-R first. If it's just the semi classics, I wouldn't say the schedule is too much.
I hope for Simmon's sake Trek doesn't burn him out with a full classics schedule. He's a promising talent but I wouldn't be sending him to anything bigger than Dwars
I think i saw him 35k from the finish. He's getting closerAnother DNF for Simmons in Le Samyn
That's a bit harsh. If you'd have thrown Alaphilippe, van der Poel or Gilbert into the deep-end at that age, chances are they wouldn't have performed any better, and yet they all turned out to be pretty special in one or more ways. But i stand by my previous statement, i'm not a fan of his current schedule.Not a bust yet, but definetely he is nothing special either
Simmons can only ride the schedule in which the team participates - It's tough for a team to frame a team program that perfectly suits one rider.