Quinn Simmons of Durango is back in Europe to begin his second half of the season. Simmons is back racing with Trek – Segafredo in the eight-stage Tour de Suisse, which began on Sunday.
“Back in (Switzerland) for the next week – seemed to work well last year so hope to replicate the effort,” Simmons posted before the first stage. “Time to make the work count.”
After the third stage on Tuesday, Trek Segafredo’s leader Mattias Skjelmose was leading the race’s general classification by 3 seconds, just ahead of Felix Gall (AG2R Citroen Team), 12 seconds ahead Juan Ayuso (AUE Team Emirates) and 21 seconds ahead of Remco Evenepoel (Soudal – Quick Step).
The tour began with a 12.7 kilometer individual time trial, and Simmons put down the 27th fastest time on the flat spring, crossing 41 seconds behind stage-winner Stefan Kung of Groupama FDJ’s 13:31. Skjelmose finished sixth (+:19) while Wout Van Aert of Team Jumbo-Visma crossed third (+:10). Van Aert’s teammate, Sepp Kuss of Durango, isn’t racing in the Tour de Suisse after recently finishing the Giro de Italia.
On the 173.7-kilometer Stage 2, Simmons finished 23rd with the peloton in the same time as the stage winner, Biniam Girmay of Intermarche – Circus – Wanty. Simmons also scored a point in the King of the Mountain category with a strong climb. Van Aert finished third to stay in third place in the GC, behind Evenepoel and leader Kung. Skjelmose finished 42nd, but also crossed with the peloton so he remained in sixth in the GC.
On the 143.8-kilometer Stage 3, which ended with a climb in the rain, Skjelmose took the stage win to move into the GC lead.
“I always trusted myself and after the team worked like this, I gave it everything,” Skjelmose said. “That's also my first World Tour win so it’s incomparable.”
Evenepoel finished fourth on the stage to remain in second in the GC, and now trails Skjelmose by 17 seconds.
After helping Skjelmose get the win, Simmons finished 46th out of the 160 cyclists (+5:44) on the stage, moving him to 46th in the GC.
Van Aert lost 10:04 on the stage with a 59th-place finish, dropping him 50 spots to 53rd in the GC. Van Aert, however, also scored 10 points on the day to strengthen his grip on the black points jersey with 32. Skjelmose is second in the points race with 12.
The fourth stage on Wednesday will be 152.5 kilometers long with a couple big climbs. Stages 5 and 6 are both over 200 kilometers long. Stage 7 will be 183.5 kilometers. The Tour de Suisse will then conclude with a 25.7-kilometer individual time trial on Sunday.
“We will try our best (to defend jersey).” Skjelmose said. “There are a lot of strong teams and it can be difficult. Hopefully we can defend it until the last (time trial) and then it will be all up to me.”
