Quinn Simmons is the new Quinn Simmons

[AlfaLum]

He's strong, but this isn't exactly a perfect race for him so that makes his result even better. He's still really young so there should be more to come.

For now this seems to be the race that is best suited for him across the entire calendar no?

 

[hayneplane]

For now this seems to be the race that is best suited for him across the entire calendar no?

That was my thoughts as well

 

[Salvarani]

For now this seems to be the race that is best suited for him across the entire calendar no?

Yup, he was good here last year too. Had bad luck with a puncture back then.

Wont judge him on his result in PR last year. It could maybe be the next race that could suit him very well. Might need to race it a couple of times but he should hopefully take a confidence boost from his ride today.

 

[AlfaLum]

Yup, he was good here last year too. Had bad luck with a puncture back then.

Wont judge him on his result in PR last year. It could maybe be the next race that could suit him very well. Might need to race it a couple of times but he should hopefully take a confidence boost from his ride today.

Yeah, Roubaix should suit him. But for now I always see Simmons still being quite good around 150k into a race, but starting to suffer when the race gets longer, so for now I think Roubaix suits him less.

Even more because he has two captains there with Pedersen and Stuyven who I believe will be way above him in the hierarchy for now.

 

[Salvarani]

Yeah, Roubaix should suit him. But for now I always see Simmons still being quite good around 150k into a race, but starting to suffer when the race gets longer, so for now I think Roubaix suits him less.

Even more because he has two captains there with Pedersen and Stuyven who I believe will be way above him in the hierarchy for now.

He might not have the endurance yet, but with a few years of hard training and racing that will hopefully improve.

Not a leader right now, but on his way.

 

[firefly3323]

For now this seems to be the race that is best suited for him across the entire calendar no?

That's what I was thinking as well.

 

[Bolder]

Yeah, Roubaix should suit him. But for now I always see Simmons still being quite good around 150k into a race, but starting to suffer when the race gets longer, so for now I think Roubaix suits him less.

Even more because he has two captains there with Pedersen and Stuyven who I believe will be way above him in the hierarchy for now.

He's done some monster training rides and nearly won Leadville at age 18 with something like Pogacar's solo today, on dirt. It's probably tactics - expending too much energy - rather than fitness. If he follows the right wheels he could make the final cut in a lot of one day races.

 

[firefly3323]

He's done some monster training rides and nearly won Leadville at age 18 with something like Pogacar's solo today, on dirt. It's probably tactics - expending too much energy - rather than fitness. If he follows the right wheels he could make the final cut in a lot of one day races.

Based on his quotes in the CN article it seems he feels that way about himself

 

[ice&fire]

He's done some monster training rides and nearly won Leadville at age 18 with something like Pogacar's solo today, on dirt. It's probably tactics - expending too much energy - rather than fitness. If he follows the right wheels he could make the final cut in a lot of one day races.

He needs to move his European home base to Murcia and train with Valverde

 

[Libertine Seguros]

What kind of race is perfect for him? I haven't really seen enough of him yet to have any idea myself.

Must... resist...

 

[AlfaLum]

He's done some monster training rides and nearly won Leadville at age 18 with something like Pogacar's solo today, on dirt. It's probably tactics - expending too much energy - rather than fitness. If he follows the right wheels he could make the final cut in a lot of one day races.

I have seen the monster training rides he did. They are very long at a reasonably high pace, but they don’t include the intervals that you need in the monuments. Maybe it is bad tactics, but for now I have always seen Simmons star fading at some point in the longer races.

But with time that should surely get better.

 

[SafeBet]

Last year he was already very good in Strade before puncturing and crashing. Then he was nowhere in the cobble classics. So I'm curious to see if he has improved in that department now.

 

[jmdirt]

For now this seems to be the race that is best suited for him across the entire calendar no?

He might be a little 'thick' for the hills in this race, but we'll see I guess.

 

[woodburn]

I have seen the monster training rides he did. They are very long at a reasonably high pace, but they don’t include the intervals that you need in the monuments. Maybe it is bad tactics, but for now I have always seen Simmons star fading at some point in the longer races.

But with time that should surely get better.

How many 19 and 20 year olds don't fade after 150-200k? Seems more the normal that the exception. He's already done one GT and is still developing after probably an overaggressive plan last year for classics.

Long way to go. Seems, as was noted above, that he needs to better with tactics and expending energy. He was focused on win today and ended up seventh. Had he been more cautious it's possible he could have been in podium race. But these are the learning lessons you can't get anywhere else. Easy to forget some of us have been watching cycling more than 10 years before he was born.

 

[Leinster]

Most results on a google search have his weight as 72kg, so you’d imagine he wouldn’t be suited to anything much hillier than Strade, and that something flatter might be a better fit.

 

[Vesica]

I got the feeling that you see Simmons only once a year: at Strade. Not very visible for the rest of the year.

 

[Ricco']

I got the feeling that you see Simmons only once a year: at Strade. Not very visible for the rest of the year.

That's a weird thing to say since we're talking about a 20 year old who so far, apart from Strade, has managed to win a ProSeries race (Tour of Wallonie) in a confortable way and also had decent showings in Plouay and Tour of Poland (in his 1st pro season) and on minor stage races like Tour of Hungary.

Last year I recall a tactical blunder in one of the flemish classics (I'm not sure which, probably E3) where he attacked right before Taaienberg(?) and was of course cooked when the big guns moved on that climb and catched him. I think last year he was building towards Roubaix in the spring but of course that was not possible when the race was postponed in short notice. I think the Vuelta was too much fatigue for a 20 year old (as it should be) to be in any kind of form to do the Worlds and Roubaix, with good form, right after that.

 

[stonerider]

Most results on a google search have his weight as 72kg, so you’d imagine he wouldn’t be suited to anything much hillier than Strade, and that something flatter might be a better fit.

How much do you think Wout weighs? I'm not comparing Quinn to Wout but some bigger guys can climb well...all you need is a 500 watt FTP.

 

[Leinster]

How much do you think Wout weighs? I'm not comparing Quinn to Wout but some bigger guys can climb well...all you need is a 500 watt FTP.

1. “All you need…”
2. Other than the Ventoux stage from the break, (and as impressive as that was, we’ve seen enough similar Eros Poli-type mountain wins to know that it isn’t necessarily evidence of a world class climber) what race hillier than Strade has Wout won?

 

[Devil's Elbow]

1. “All you need…”
2. Other than the Ventoux stage from the break, (and as impressive as that was, we’ve seen enough similar Eros Poli-type mountain wins to know that it isn’t necessarily evidence of a world class climber) what race hillier than Strade has Wout won?

The Great Orme HTF in his Tour of Britain rampage.

Also, only including wins ignores big achievements in mountainous races like his Olympic silver and his second place in Tirreno.

 

[Bolder]

How many 19 and 20 year olds don't fade after 150-200k? Seems more the normal that the exception. He's already done one GT and is still developing after probably an overaggressive plan last year for classics.

Long way to go. Seems, as was noted above, that he needs to better with tactics and expending energy. He was focused on win today and ended up seventh. Had he been more cautious it's possible he could have been in podium race. But these are the learning lessons you can't get anywhere else. Easy to forget some of us have been watching cycling more than 10 years before he was born.

i am really starting to wonder a bit about insanely talented juniors like him and ayuso going to the Wt so early. Clearly they can win smaller races here and there and put up a good showing in bigger races, maybe even snag a semi classic (looking at you Remco). But does it help their long term careers? Will Simmons have had a better palmarès if he had ridden as a development rider, then stagiaire (or whatever the traditional way is), instead of being thrown into the deep end?

seems as if he’s spinning his wheels a bit, as it were. 7th at SB is fabulous but it ultimately doesn’t mean much.

 

[AlfaLum]

i am really starting to wonder a bit about insanely talented juniors like him and ayuso going to the Wt so early. Clearly they can win smaller races here and there and put up a good showing in bigger races, maybe even snag a semi classic (looking at you Remco). But does it help their long term careers? Will Simmons have had a better palmarès if he had ridden as a development rider, then stagiaire (or whatever the traditional way is), instead of being thrown into the deep end?

seems as if he’s spinning his wheels a bit, as it were. 7th at SB is fabulous but it ultimately doesn’t mean much.

You realize that all three examples you are making are still of an age where they would be allowed to race an U23 season? There is not much too be said about how their careers will play out eventually.

In that respect all three of them are contending for the wins in professional races at a very young age. So with these three it seems to me that it did not turn out to be a wrong move. But of course we will never be able to find out what kind of racers they had become if they had raced more in the u23s first.

If you want to make an example of somebody who shouldn’t have skipped the U23 in recent years it seems to be Brenner to me. He is also too young to make it a definitive call though. But his level last year tells me it would have been better for him to ride a year as an U23 probably.

However, let’s also not forget that due to COVID messing up a large part of the U23 calendar in recent years it might have been a great call for all of them.

 

[Leinster]

I listened to a podcast with Ben Healy (stage winner at Avenir and BabyGiro, riding WT with EF this year as a 21yo, in the break at Omloop last weekend) yesterday, he reckoned it’s “the Remco effect” of hiring all these u23s straight to the senior pro ranks. But he also pointed out that he’s the same age as Remco, was riding a lot of the same races, and Remco would just ride off the front and solo to the win. You’d hope the people giving these contracts to these young lads have their best interests at heart.

Healy also said he only had something like 40 race days in 2020 due to Covid, and I think that’s something we’re going to see a lot of in the coming years, in a lot of sports not just cycling; athletes born around 2000 who go under the radar at u/a level because a key year in their development just didn’t happen.

 

[masking_agent]

he'll be a winner if he decides to live and train in Europe all year round

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

I listened to a podcast with Ben Healy (stage winner at Avenir and BabyGiro, riding WT with EF this year as a 21yo, in the break at Omloop last weekend) yesterday, he reckoned it’s “the Remco effect” of hiring all these u23s straight to the senior pro ranks. But he also pointed out that he’s the same age as Remco, was riding a lot of the same races, and Remco would just ride off the front and solo to the win. You’d hope the people giving these contracts to these young lads have their best interests at heart.

Healy also said he only had something like 40 race days in 2020 due to Covid, and I think that’s something we’re going to see a lot of in the coming years, in a lot of sports not just cycling; athletes born around 2000 who go under the radar at u/a level because a key year in their development just didn’t happen.

This is what i've been saying since Simmons and Brenner decided to turn pro. A lot of people comparing them to Evenepoel because they supposedly had ''nearly'' the same amount of wins. Yet where Evenepoel won by minutes, lapping the peloton on two occasions and roughly a 10 minute lead, solo, Brenner and Simmons won by a few seconds. Evenepoel had just so much of a buffer, so expecting Simmons and Brenner to close the gap with the pro peloton at the same age, was dumb.

Did expect Simmons to be better at todays TT though.