Quinn Simmons wanted to win a day earlier. Nevertheless, the road cycling national champion got the job done and won Stage 3 of the Tour de Suisse (Tour of Switzerland) on Tuesday for his first WorldTour stage win in the Stars and Stripes national champion jersey.
Simmons won the 195.6-kilometer stage that started in Aarau, Switzerland, and finished in Heiden, Switzerland, in 4 hours, 39 minutes and 42 seconds. He finished 18 seconds ahead of João Almedia in second.
It was an emotional victory for Simmons. Two years ago on Monday, the Durango native was riding behind Gino Mäder in the Tour de Suisse when Mäder crashed on a twisting, high-speed descent. Simmons was only a few hundred meters behind as Mäder crashed into a gully and was found unconscious. He was airlifted to a local hospital but later died from his injuries.
The 24-year-old Durangoan was so shaken from Mäder’s crash that he considered quitting professional cycling and never returning to Europe.
Simmons wanted to win on Monday in Stage 2 on the two-year anniversary of Mäder. He came close and finished fourth, but got the job done on Tuesday.
“The motivation was super high today,” Simmons told reporters after the stage win. “I really wanted to win yesterday. It was the two-year anniversary that we lost Gino and I really wanted to win and dedicate that to him … It’s really hard to be here again, especially seeing his mom at the start. Now I can pay a bit of tribute.”
Simmons was in a lead group of six with about 83 km left as the riders rode east toward the finish; the lead group was about 2:35 up on the peloton.
With about 20 km to go in the stage, Simmons stepped on the gas to get away from the three other riders in what was then a breakaway group.
Simmons had a 34-second gap with 2 km left as the peloton took too long to organize a chase to hunt him down.
The gap held enough so that Simmons could first flap his arms like an eagle to celebrate his triumph for America and himself. He then pointed his finger to the sky to pay tribute to Mäder.
Simmons’ triumph was his second WorldTour stage win of the year and his career. However, his first, coming in the Volta a Catalunya on March 29, was a shortened stage due to winds.
Therefore, it was Simmons’ first full-length WorldTour stage win and his first WorldTour stage win with the Stars and Stripes national championship jersey.
“My dream was to win a race in this jersey one time this year,” Simmons said to reporters after the race. “To do it on my third race day in it is quite nice. I had a really bad season in the jersey last time; I don’t even know if you can call it a season because I only raced maybe 15 times and then was out with injury. To do it here and take my second WorldTour victory of the season, I’m starting to come to the level that was expected of me and was missing for two years.”
The Tour de Suisse continues with the final five stages until the finish on Sunday.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
