With the most important cycling race in the world weeks away, Durango’s Quinn Simmons is looking to prove he belongs.
The Tour de France begins on July 4, and Simmons hasn’t been a shoo-in to make Lidl-Trek’s tour team for the second consecutive year. But the 25-year-old is showing he’s ready for the challenge after winning Stage 4 of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes in France on Wednesday, a UCI World Tour event.
Simmons sprinted to victory on Wednesday for his first stage win of 2026 and only his third stage win since 2023. Wearing the national champions jersey, Simmons didn’t take for granted after the race with reporters what it means to win in the stars and stripes jersey.
“I’m so proud to race in this jersey and race for this team,” Simmons said. “To be flying this flag in Europe is beautiful for me.”
Simmons won the 167-kilometer Stage 4 in three hours, 34 minutes and eight seconds. Finn Fisher-Black was second with the same time and Mattéo Vercher was third with the same time.
It was a day full of six climbs for the riders between Le Puy-en-Velay and Montrond-les-Bains. Simmons got in the breakaway which had 12 riders with about 74 kilometers left in the stage. The gap to the peloton was about 1:25 with over 60 km left, and dropped to about a minute with 33 km left, with Simmons still in the breakaway.
As the finish to the stage got closer and closer, so did the peloton to the breakaway, with the peloton only eight seconds away with 500 meters left. Simmons said he didn’t know what the gap to the peloton was at the end because there wasn’t a car with the breakaway group.
Simmons bolted to the right of the breakaway with the finish in sight, and it was a full-gas sprint to the line against Fisher-Black, with Simmons barely emerging victorious before putting his arm in the air in triumph. Simmons joked with reporters that it was the first time he’d won a sprint.
“Ask these guys (Lidl-Trek), but I think I punched my ticket (to the Tour de France),” Simmons said.