The Mighty Quinn
“Come all without, come all within
You’ll not see nothing like the Mighty Quinn…”
Bob Dylan
I’d never seen American Quinn Simmons in action until Saturday’s Strada Bianche, the Italian semi-classic destined, despite its relative youth, to be awarded full “Monument” status as one of the great single-day bicycle races of the world. The race was founded in 2009 as a means to draw attention and support for Chianti’s famed white pebble roads which had been in danger of being paved over, of course, in the name of progress. The promotion has been a wonderful success, giving both fantastic racing action and a perfect example of the great power that properly designed road cycling has to serve, support and improve a host community. The scenes from the race are absolutely breathtaking in their beauty; snaking lines of cyclists racing through dust clouds on the cypress lined white roads with vineyards and castelli decorating the background. The dramatic uphill finish into the heart of Siena only adds to the allure of this most Italian race.
The race exploded into real action with about 60-kilometers (40-miles) to go. 19-year-old Simmons was at the head of the battle, joining Olympic Champion Greg Van Avermaet and Danish Champion Kasper Asgreen along with 13 others in an attack to gain ground on the favorites before hitting longest and toughest section of unpaved road. Suddenly, there he was, the American teenager alone in front, having left behind the 15 others in a cocky move that announced him to the world. I finally got a good look at him and goodness, is that some bicycle racer.
Long lean legs that move in a perfect circle absent any side-to-side movement, the saddle high and somewhat forward in the modern manner yet maintaining the ability to smoothly rev at 120 rpms with ease, the barrel chest and long arms perfectly balanced over his machine in a naturally aerodynamic position. He’s six feet and 158 pounds of pure strength that’s imbued with true racing spirit. Simmons’ 15 former companions were run over and spit out by the group of superstars who launched on the steep Monte Saint Maria climb but he calmly slotted in with them. The group included: 2019 and 2020 Tour de France winners (Egan Bernal and Tadej Pogačar), two World Cyclocross Champions (Wout Van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel), the current World Champion Julian Alaphilippe, the British phenome with his wonderfully Dickensian name, Tom Pidcock, and the surprising Austrian Michael Gogi. It should be noted that Simmons is still the reigning World Junior Road Champion. There simply cannot be a more prestigious, more powerful nor more accomplished group in the world, and there was Quinn Simmons, taking no quarter, going blow-for-blow with them every inch of the way. A lesser racer would have hidden in the back of the group, a tactic that would have been accepted by those tenors but this boy, and at 19, he’s still a boy, is anything but a lesser racer. He is, in fact, the great hope of American men’s cycling, finally, the one who can and will win the big races.
The cruel gods of cycling struck Simmons at the 38-k to go with a rear flat tire and we fans had to endure yet another Keystone Kops attempt at a disc wheel change – Simmons appeared to be negotiating with the Shimano Neutral Service Moto (spare wheels) who then passed him by. He continued to bump along, maintaining contact with the group (!) until a Shimano car stopped and gave him a 90 second change (normal is 10 seconds but hey! Discs are better..)
He was now far behind both the leaders and the chase group, which had been hovering at about 10”, which means that everyone was going flat out. Miraculously, Simmons rejoined the second group 2.5 kilometers later which translates to a warp speed effort - no matter if he drafted his way back through the cars it was still phenomenal especially given that he went right back to the front of the group, never leaving the top three, clearly the strongest of them all, managing to hold the leaders to within 15”. Of course, just to complete a perfect day of racing, he crashed with 19-k to go and his beautiful performance was over – Simmons’ limped to the finish line bruised and battered but bolstered with an even greater confidence for his brilliant future.
The finish has already been well chronicled , but I offer the following observations beginning with Egan Bernal, the 2019 Tour winner who has been sub-par ever since, perhaps due to a recurring back problem. We saw different Bernal than the normal, somewhat diesel-like racer of yore, now explosive, able to make and follow the sharp accelerations that allowed him to finish a fine third place on the day. The technicos at Pinarello and Ineos have changed his position. He’s now on a zero-setback seat post (meaning he is sitting more to the center of his bicycle rather than pushing from the back), which is the general way that racing organization likes its riders to sit – more track racing style. This seems to have helped quicken his power application, and quite possibly taken pressure off his nagging back as the hips are more centered over the cranks. I really look forward to seeing how this new approach works once the mountain races begin.
Julian Alaphilippe is one of the great world champions of history, performant on all terrains, exciting, aggressive – it was Ala who executed 2020 winner Wout Van Aert with 23-k to go – and who was a center of action throughout the day. He came up against a once-in-a-several-generation racer of Mathieu van der Poel’s quality in the final sprint, the Dutchman’s acceleration to victory so powerful that it left the entire cycling world agog. All of the racers combined to showcase the 2021 Strade Bianche as cycling at its finest, exciting to the very end, beautiful the entire way, a deeply satisfying event for everyone involved, from teams to promotors to fans. A powerfully emphatic response to those who doubt the sport, who question its place in the modern world.
Note: All of the commentary surrounding Simmons seems to have been prefaced with a reference to his social media troubles. The broadcast I watched brought them up at least four times, and even Chris Horner, who one can generally count on for clear-eyed commentary, pretzeled himself into all sorts of verbal contortions on his podcast before, almost fearfully, lauding the young champion on his performance.
I’m really sick of American champions being torn down. Seems to have become a habit for many. The punishment meted out by Trek was extreme – missed races can never come back in the brief duration of a career making theirs a particularly cruel and stupid form of discipline. Wouldn’t a $10,000 fine and a couple of weeks working to help better conditions – Habitat for Humanity sort of thing – been more appropriate for a teenager? I addressed his issue in the second part of the pasted article below. We all just better hope that a Tucker Carlson doesn’t get ahold of this story, it would be delicious, blood-dripping red meat for him. And if Quinn Simmons is Red State type? So what? Maybe he’ll bring a new fan base into the sport and instead of pickup trucks buzzing me while screaming “libtard!!”, they’ll start beeping and yelling, ”Go Quinn!”
https://www.pelotonperspectives.com/posts/2020/10/13/rygdi6att5xcnt8hkuquzuwgn4uhz6