"If I can gain a few more percentage points, it could be a very good year": Quinn Simmons on the verge of breakthrough

Quinn Simmons has never really not been viewed as a big talent since his junior days which included a world title in 2019 and a move straight to WorldTour with Lidl-Trek the following season. But since then, the immense potential of Simmons only showed in glimpses. That was until 2025. It appears so that the most recent campaign will mark a turning point in the American's career as he finally stepped out of his own shadow to take some of the spotlight. Although that really big victory still continues to slip through his fingers.

Regardless, looking back at his season, Simmons takes a lot of pride in the improvement he has made: "I think I've definitely taken a nice step forward in 2025. I want to confirm, or rather improve, on that level next year," he told In de Leiderstrui.

"At the end of last season, I was already much better than at the beginning," says Simmons. While the year took off rather slow for the 24-year-old, that quickly turned upside down at the National Championships in May where Simmons earned himself the privilege to wear stripes and stars for the second time in his career.

Then followed a victory at Tour de Suisse, his first real WorldTour win in June. Even though it didn't quite work out at the Tour de France where a second place in a stage was the maximum possible, the Lidl-Trek rider would already be satisfied with his season at that point: "That victory in Catalunya was a bit strange, but that victory in Switzerland felt real. And then I just kept improving in the Tour."

At that point, he still couldn't know that his best days of the year were yet to come at the GP Montreal (3rd) and Il Lombardia. Simmons definitely wasn't a favourite for the Classic of dead leaves, however once a big breakaway got rolling, the American sensed his opportunity and his solo ride put even Tadej Pogacar on high alert. From a "non-climber", the 4th place is a great success. And that's the level he'd like to have again in 2026.

"I haven't reached the level I reached at the end of the season so far," concludes the American. "I knew I was good, but Montreal was actually more of a training ground for the World Championships. I'd never finished that race... but I saw that I wasn't deteriorating, while others were. And suddenly, I was competing for victory at my weight in a race with 4,000 meters of elevation gain."

"I lost that confidence again at the World Championships, where things didn't go well, only to find it again in Lombardy," Simmons laughs. "And that's very important to me, because finishing the year well is an underestimated achievement. I've already finished with COVID, a crash in Roubaix, illness, and so on. This time, there was no stress."

"If I can gain a few more percentage points, it could be a very good year. So I also have big ambitions, both in the one-day races and the Tours. If I had to name just one goal, it would be a stage win in the Tour. But a year like that would also be a success," concludes the American, who starts his year in France with the Classic Var, working his way towards the Strade Bianche, a race where he came close to a top result a few times before.