The strength of the Simmons family was on display again Friday in Florida.
Colby Simmons of Durango claimed another national championship jersey in a road racing event, as he won the USA Cycling Amateur Road National Championships road race at Camp Blanding Joint Training Center in Starke, Florida.
Racing in the junior men 17-18 age division, the 17-year-old Simmons found himself in a large bunch sprint to the finish line. He cranked up the power and was able to throw his front tire across the finish line in front of California’s Ethan Villaneda for the win in 2 hours, 42 minutes, 11 seconds.
“It was a pretty stressful race,” Simmons said. “There were two dudes up the road and a corner right before the finish. I jumped to try to get across to the two guys in front with 500 meters to go. I got up to them, rested for a couple seconds and then jumped again to the finish. It was super close, and I gave it everything I had.
“It took awhile to sink in that I won, but I was definitely crying a bit. I worked really hard for that moment.”
Colby Simmons wins it in a great sprint! https://t.co/4U7lhkJy1f
— John Livingston (@jlivi2) June 25, 2021
Simmons, riding for the LUX/sideshow team on a Specialized bike, earned his second junior national championship on the road, as he also claimed the junior 15-16 criterium in 2019 in Maryland.
“This one is definitely cooler,” Simmons said when comparing his two national titles. “The 17-18 age division is a bit more competitive. This is my last year as a junior because my birthday is in October. Not getting to have a nationals last year in my first year in this category and then there not being a lot of racing this year, nobody knew how everyone’s form was. It made it more of a gamble out there today.”
He followed in the footsteps of his older brother Quinn, now a WorldTour pro for the Trek-Segafredo team who won junior national titles in the road race, criterium and time trial before going on to win the 2019 junior world championship. Colby said it meant a lot to him to win the race just as his brother had done when he was 17.
Colby has been coached by Quinn in recent years, and Quinn celebrated his younger brother’s win from Europe.
“He’s already shown this year to be the best American, so to now have a jersey to prove that is really cool to see,” Quinn said. “It feels really good to have that jersey in Europe, so I look forward to watching him show it off across the pond the next few months.”
Colby, son of Holly and Scott Simmons, said the course was pretty flat. While that made it easier, it also set up for a much larger, chaotic sprint finish.
There were 78 riders signed up for the race Friday, and 69 finished. Also in the sprint finish, from third through fifth, was Artem Schmidt of Georgia, Mack Dorf of Vail and Christian Deschamps of Texas. Seven more riders were only one second behind Colby’s winning time, and 41 riders were within 10 seconds.
“It was stressful to get in good position coming into the last lap,” he said.
Colby’s win came after he finished 12th in Thursday’s time trial. Simmons also will contest Sunday’s criterium race on Fleming Island, Florida.
Monday, he will fly with the LUX Cycling Development team to Europe for three months of racing nearly every week.
“To be able to wear this jersey to Europe, they really appreciate it over there,” Colby said. “They want the national champion in their races. It’s definitely a big deal and brings a lot of attention to the team. It makes us look really good.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
