Quinn Simmons struck out in the final kilometer of Volta a Catalunya Stage 6, escaping alone and holding off a charging bunch to the line. Hot on his heels was Pavel Bittner, whose effort came too late to catch Simmons as he took his maiden WorldTour victory.
Stage 6 was due to be the Queen Stage until extreme winds forced race organizers to shorten the course. After riding the majority of the altered route under neutralized conditions, racing began with just 28km to the finish. A breakaway formed quickly, including Lidl-Trek’s Carlos Verona, who was recognized as the most combative rider of the day. With 10km remaining, the group was reeled in, before multiple riders rolled the dice, using the uphill final five kilometers as a springboard to break clear. However, none were able to stay away for long, until Simmons powerful move under the flamme rouge. The American went deep to hold off the chasing sprinters, but his effort was rewarded with a career-first WorldTour victory.
Quinn Simmons: “This must be the strangest day of my career: first we race, then we don’t, then we do two laps, and in the end, we only did 28 km. It’s a bit surprising to be here because, to be honest, I was one of the riders who voted not to start. But in the end it’s a victory in a WorldTour race, my first one. Nobody knew what was going on, and of course, when the race is that short, you know it’s going to be nervous.
We didn’t know when the start was coming. I was in the car taking my leg warmers off, so I ended up in the third group on the descent but rode to the front on my own. I thought my race was already over after just 2 km, but yeah, it’s crazy. I wasn’t even supposed to be here. I got the call on Thursday that I was coming. It’s super special, my first WorldTour victory. It also means a lot for my parents watching at home, and my girlfriend and brother, who will be at the finish tomorrow. It’s almost a home race for me, living in Girona.
It was tough because we had no information. First, we were told we’d do two laps of 60 km, then one lap, then one lap easy followed by a full-gas lap. And suddenly, we heard on the radio, ‘OK guys, in 2 km the race starts, and it will be 28 km long.’ I was in the car taking my clothes off when that happened. In the end, we were lucky we could still put on a bit of a show. Of course, we want to do that for the race and the fans, but as riders, we always have to take safety seriously. We’re just fortunate they didn’t force us to climb in the mountains today because that would not have been a good idea.
We knew the final because, about 15 minutes before the start, the team doctor showed it to me and said, ‘Quinn, this actually suits you.’ It’s hard to switch your mindset so quickly because I was expecting an easy gruppetto day, saving my legs for tomorrow. Then suddenly, you go from not racing to maybe racing, and then all of a sudden, you’re racing on a final that suits you. You don’t get many chances as a rider like me. If it’s a real sprint, I’m either doing the lead-out or protecting a climber. If it’s a big mountain stage like it was supposed to be, I’m in the gruppetto. So when I get a chance, I have to take it. We wanted to show that the team is here to fight. Even though we lost our GC leader on day one, we’ve now saved the week.
Tomorrow will have the same intensity as today, but just a bit longer. My biggest objective for the week was actually tomorrow, but I got the job done a day early. We’ll try to go for the bonus tomorrow, but the team can go home happy and I go home happy as well.”
