Quinn Simmons leaves Leadville with unfinished business after ninth place MTB return

Simmons finished ninth on his return to the Leadville Trail 100, more than eight minutes behind winner Keegan Swenson, after seeing his challenge fade on the climb to Columbine.

The Lidl-Trek rider had stayed with the leading group into the main ascent, but was unable to follow when Swenson and the other favourites increased the pace at altitude.

“We had a pretty big group into the main climb there,” Simmons said after the finish. “Then they went really fast, and I didn’t. That was the end of the race for me,” he told Cycling Weekly.

It was a fairly predictable limit for a rider who had decided to enter the race only the previous week.

“I decided on Friday last week,” Simmons said. “It was kind of just like I’ve always talked about coming, and I was home. Trek has a team here, and they can support me. So yeah, I asked if I could do it, and they said sure.”

Simmons arrived in Colorado less than three weeks after finishing the Tour de France, where he had spent much of the race working for Lidl-Trek’s broader ambitions.

There had been little opportunity to prepare for Leadville in between. Asked about his training since the Tour, Simmons described it as “non existent”.

The result was very different from Simmons’ first appearance at the race in 2019, when he finished second behind Howard Grotts at the age of 18.

That ride came before Simmons had won the junior road world title and before he had started his professional career with Trek. Seven years later, he returned as a three time US road champion and four time Tour de France rider.

Simmons said he would like to return with a more conventional preparation.

“It’s a little bit tricky because next year it interferes with the Worlds, and the year after is Olympics time,” he said. “But yeah, I’d like to come back maybe a little more prepared.”

His appearance was a brief detour in a season that remains centred on the road, with the Philadelphia Cycling Classic, the Canadian one day races and the World Championships in Montréal still to come.

The Worlds have been one of Simmons’ main targets throughout the year. He finished third at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal in 2025 and has previously described the Canadian championships as “basically our home Worlds”.

At the same time, his interest in racing beyond the road is not limited to mountain biking. Simmons has also spoken openly about ski mountaineering and the possibility of targeting the 2030 Winter Olympics, another ambition that has to fit around an increasingly crowded road calendar.

For now, his time on skis depends largely on when winter arrives.

“I like to train on the skis,” he said. “We leave for our winter training camps beginning in December. I need an early November storm if I’m going to ski too much. If we get it, I’ll take it.”