Our resident American rolled the dice in the closing kilometre of Stage 6 here at Volta a Catalunya, escaping alone and holding off a charging bunch to claim his first WorldTour victory!
Stage 6 was due to be the Queen Stage until extreme winds reaching 100 km/h forced race organizers to shorten the course. After riding the majority of the altered route under neutralized conditions, racing began with just 28km to the finish. A breakaway formed quickly, including Lidl-Trek’s Carlos Verona, who was recognized as the most combative rider of the day. With 10km remaining, the group was reeled in, before multiple riders attacked hard, using the uphill final five kilometres as a springboard to break clear. However, none were able to stay away for long, until Simmons powerful move under the flamme rouge. The American went deep to hold off the chasing sprinters, but his effort was rewarded with a career-first WorldTour victory.
The day In Quinn's words -
This must be the strangest day of my career: first we race, then we don’t, then we do two laps, and in the end, we only did 28 km. It’s a bit surprising to be here because, to be honest, I was one of the riders who voted not to start. But in the end it’s a victory in a WorldTour race, my first one. Nobody knew what was going on, and of course, when the race is that short, you know it’s going to be nervous.
We didn’t know when the start was coming. I was in the car taking my leg warmers off, so I ended up in the third group on the descent but rode to the front on my own. I thought my race was already over after just 2 km, but yeah, it’s crazy. I wasn’t even supposed to be here. I got the call on Thursday that I was coming. It’s super special, my first WorldTour victory.
It also means a lot for my parents watching at home, and my girlfriend and brother, who will be at the finish tomorrow. It’s almost a home race for me, living in Girona.Tomorrow will have the same intensity as today, but just a bit longer. My biggest objective for the week was actually tomorrow, but I got the job done a day early. We’ll try to go for the bonus tomorrow, but the team can go home happy and I go home happy as well.
