Durango’s Quinn Simmons knew he could make a difference on his Lidl-Trek squad heading into the Tour de France, and he showed why on Tuesday in Stage 4.
Simmons tied his career-best finish at the Tour, finishing second in Stage 4 and was a huge help to Lidl-Trek teammate Mads Peterson taking victory. He pedaled away from the peloton in the breakaway at the beginning.
“It’s no secret anymore what I can do on a good day, so I don’t need to pretend,” Simmons said to TNT Sports. “I told the team they should bring me to the Tour because I can do a day like this. I’m just happy it worked out for Mads.”
Simmons also finished second in last year’s Tour in Stage 6. On Tuesday, Simmons finished the 181.9-kilometer stage from Carcassonne, France, to Foix, France, in four hours, 10 minutes and 45 seconds, the same time as Peterson in first.
Stage 4 began with the riders leaving the Pyrenees in super-hot conditions at 100 degrees. The stage looked perfect for a breakaway with a flat start followed by some tough climbs.
The breakaway started immediately and there were 34 riders in it with about 136 km left. Peterson and Simmons came up just short of securing some sprinters’ points for Peterson with 88.5 km left, but the two Lidl-Trek riders were still in good position in the front.
Lidl-Trek teammate Mathias Vacek and Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe Jan Tratnik separated from the lead group by over 50 seconds with about 70 km left as Simmons remained in the big second chase group. At the same time, the general classification leaders group was 6:31 down.
The lead group of two was caught by Simmons’ group with about 40 km left. Attacks on some of the tougher climbs toward the end of the stage dwindled down the lead group to 10 riders with 23 km left, and Simmons was at the front.
That group of 10 gapped the next chase group by over two minutes with about a kilometer left. Peterson was in a great position in third around the final turn, and he launched his attack with a few hundred meters to go, giving himself the buffer to sit up and celebrate as he crossed the finish line.
Simmons was toward the back of the lead group as the riders made the final turn, but he showed his American power as he got into position and outsprinted Raúl García Pierna for second, raising his hand in celebration as he saw Peterson cross the finish line in first.
“I would say, this is a masterpiece in teamwork,” Peterson said in a Lidl-Trek press release. “With Quinn and Vacek there it was easier. Alone it would have been hard to control who would attack and be on top of every move … I was suffering a lot on the last climb, and they did incredible to pace it well for me and make sure that we didn’t lose too much time over the top.”
Way behind Simmons was fellow Durangoan Sepp Kuss and the GC group. Kuss finished 46th, 12:59 behind Simmons and Peterson. Kuss’ Visma-Lease a Bike teammate, Jonas Vingegaard, finished in 43rd with the same time and his GC rival, Tadej Pogačar, finished in 33rd with the same time.
The day before, the cyclists rode 195.9 km from Granollers to Les Angles in the Pyrenees for Stage 3, with four categorized climbs, including a Category 1 climb in the middle of the stage.
Pogačar won the stage in 4:45:11 by two seconds over Vingegaard. Kuss finished in 24th, 50 seconds behind. Simmons finished 41st, 2:49 behind.
“It was a very demanding stage with high temperatures,” Visma-Lease a Bike Leading Race Coach Marc Reef said. “A long battle for the breakaway was a favorable scenario for us, but the race unfolded differently. After that, we did a good job of keeping Jonas in position, with Matteo and Sepp doing an excellent job deep into the finale. Jonas then produced a very strong sprint. We’re very pleased with that.”
There will be a new GC leader in the yellow jersey on Wednesday as the cyclists race 158.3 km from Lannemezan, France, to Pau, France in Stage 5. Torstein Træen leads the GC, with American Sean Quinn in second, 28 seconds behind. Pogačar is fourth, and Vingegaard is fifth, with both riders 7:53 behind Træen. Neither should be too concerned with that deficit since there will be opportunities in the mountains.
Simmons is 36th in the GC, and Kuss is 38th.