Frustrated Simmons blames motorbike impact after losing out at Tour
The American champion was in the break once again on stage 15 to Carcassonne, but he lost out to Tim Wellens. After the finish, he lamented the influence of TV motorbikes on the outcome, though the stage winner gently disagreed.
Quinn Simmons was again to the fore in the break on stage 15 of the Tour de France, but the Lild-Trek rider ended his day a frustrated 21st as Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) soloed to victory in Carcassonne.
The American champion looked to be among the strongmen in a move that was constantly fragmenting and reforming, but he was beaten to the punch in the finale by Wellens, who soloed clear at the top of the final climb with 42km to go.
From there, Wellens was imperious, pressing home his advantage to win by 1:28 as Simmons and the remnants of the break struggled to form a cohesive chase.
Speaking to ITV Sport after the finish, Simmons bristled when it was put to him that the strongest rider in the move had claimed the spoils by attacking at the precisely the right moment.
“The strongest guy in the best moment with the moto,” Simmons said. “I mean, did you not watch the coverage?”
Simmons maintained that Wellens had been able to glean an unfair advantage from the slipstream of the television motorbike ahead of him, though he conceded that, by now, riders in breakaways are aware of the potential benefit to be accrued from attacking first.
“It is what it is. We’ve seen this a few times already in the Tour and you know how that’s going to be. One day you take advantage and most of the times someone else gets it,” Simmons said.
“In the end, we all know it, so you just have to find a way to be the first guy to get that separation, because if you’re the first guy to get that separation, you’re gone.”
Laments about TV motorbikes inadvertently impacting the race are nothing new in pro cycling. Nico Mattan’s Gent-Wevelgem victory in 2005 was famously the subject of some controversy, while Tom Dumoulin lamented the effect of motorbikes on Primoz Roglic’s stage win in Laruns on the 2018 Tour. Simmons was careful to attach no blame to Wellens.
“We know it’s coming, he just chose a really good moment,” Simmons said. “You still have to be super strong, it’s not that it’s given for free – but it’s definitely a factor you have to think about and be ready to start the race early.”
In his stage winner’s press conference, Wellens was unmoved when Simmons’ complaint was put to him.
“I think it’s a little bit optimistic from Quinn to say I won because of the moto,” Wellens said. “I think the legs were very good, I don’t think the moto played a part in my victory. I hope not. But if is the case, then Quinn could also have attacked first and taken the help of the moto, if there was help. But I think the legs did the work.”
