The American champion wore the Stars and Stripes jersey proudly as he stepped onto the podium after racing to third at the rand Prix Cycliste de Montréal.
It was a career-first moment for Quinn Simmons in Montréal when he stepped onto the podium after finishing third behind the UAE Team Emirates duo of Brandon McNulty and Tadej Pogačar, respectively.
The 24-year-old described the race as the “second-hardest day” of his career behind the World Championships in 2024 but looked strong on the 17 laps of the 12.3-kilometer course maintaining a constant presence at the front of the the bunch through the early part of the day so he was ready to jump when needed.
It was the pace being set by UAE Team Emirates that eventually brought back the breakaway inside 70 kilometers to go but the speed also decimated the peloton, reducing the group to less than 45 riders.
With 35.4km, on the 14th pass of the Camillien-Houde climb, it was time for Simmons to move and he joined the UAE duo in a four-man group that also included young French rider, Louis Barré (Intermarché-Wanty) eventually the rainbow jersey pushed on solo before, after sitting in the wheel of a chasing Simmons, McNulty was able to bridge across.
With a podium stop still in his hands at this point, Simmons continued to keep fighting, determined to maintain his position on the road, and eventually, a little over one minute after McNulty and Pogačar crossed the line, the American champion came home to secure the final step on the podium.
In Quinn’s words…
For me I said at the start this is one of the hardest one day races in the world. To be honest, I thought I was gonna be supporting Skjelly, I didn't expect to make it to the finish today. Yeah, for sure, we got killed a bit by UAE, I think we're a bit used to this here now at this race, so yeah congrats to them - pretty cool that there's two Americans on the podium here.
If you're gonna lose, it's okay to lose to these two I guess and it's my best result in a WorldTour one day so to be on the podium and getting to do it in national colors is a super result and it's one step forward for me.
I think you can assume how it felt, if you've ever rode a bike and been dropped it does not feel good. In the end it's third in a WorldTour race, so of course you come here to win but when you look at the start field and you look at who beat you, you can't complain too much to be third.
