Quinn Simmons delivered the Team its first win of the 2023 season, getting the jump on the peloton with a last minute attack on stage three of Vuelta a San Juan.
Once again, the real action in Argentina was saved for the closing moments of the stage and the Trek-Segafredo team had a plan in place, protecting the 21-year-old American rider and keeping him well-positioned all day waiting for the right moment.
That exact spot I picked already this morning.
It was inside the final kilometer – on a long straight section of the Autodrómo de Villicum – that Simmons launched himself off the front of the peloton with no one able to follow his wheel after his surprise attack.
If anything, the chase behind looked only to be making Simmons stronger and once the finish line was in sight, he continued to dig deep to hold off the bunch and take Trek-Segafredo’s first victory of the year.
That Winning Feeling
On repeat 🔁 #VueltaSJ2023pic.twitter.com/Q8WnD81cLi
— Trek-Segafredo (@TrekSegafredo) January 24, 2023
What did Quinn say after the finish?
“The biggest part of winning was the guys that we had riding today. First thing today when I woke up my coach had sent me the video from this was won in the same way. I told my roommate Mathias [Vacek] ‘If you bring me there to this point I’ll win today.’
Vuelta a San Juan 2023 - 40th Edition - 3rd stage Circuito San Juan Villicum 170,9 km - 24/01/2023 - Maximiliano Richeze (ARG) - Quinn Simmons (USA - Trek - Segafredo) - Sam Bennett (IRL - Bora - hansgrohe) - photo Ilario Biondi/SprintCyclingAgency©2023
“You saw the guys all the way from 30kms to go, we were always in position. To win like that is something special. For a rider like myself there aren’t a ton of opportunities – I won’t win in a sprint and I won’t win in the big mountains so you have to go on the hard days or make your attacks in the final like that. I made one promise to the Team this year and that’s to win more races because last year I din’t win any. Now I’ve gone 100% better.
“That exact spot I picked already this morning, after talking to my coach and the other riders in the Team. I know my physiology, I know for that amount of time I’m one of the best riders around so we had to do it.”
