'You only get paid because the TV's on' - Quinn Simmons' all-action approach is here to stay

Quinn Simmons seemed to be everywhere in July. Every time you switched on the television during the Tour de France, the American champion was somewhere in the thick of the action. Up the road in the break. On the front of the bunch for Jonathan Milan. Complaining in the post-race interview about the influence of motorbikes.

Simmons might feel his efforts didn’t get quite the reward they deserved. One of the strongest riders in the race reached Paris with just a second place in Vire on stage 6 to show for his efforts. Still, Lidl-Trek certainly can’t argue that they didn’t get bang for their buck from Simmons across the three weeks. Almost every day, the 24-year-old provided wholehearted content for a worldwide audience.

“I think it’s important to be entertaining because at the end of the day, you only get paid because the TV’s on,” Simmons told reporters including Domestique at Lidl-Trek’s recent media day in Denia, Spain.

“You have to perform, but you have to do it well: you can’t be doing stupid stuff. But this is a sport where the more eyes there are on us and on the team and on the sponsors, the more money we’re all going to make. And we only have 10 years, or however short careers are these days, to get the most out of them. And you owe it to the team, to the sponsors, to yourself, to give people something to cheer for.”

Simmons’ remarkable string of cameos in July were of a piece with his entire season, which saw him produce his most consistent body of work since he turned professional in 2020. While a stage win at the Volta a Catalunya didn’t prove a portent of things to come in the Classics, Simmons hit a rich vein of form as summer approached and he never really let up. 

After defending his American national title, he secured a spot on Lidl-Trek’s Tour team with a fine solo victory on the Tour de Suisse. His July showcase was followed by a pair of striking late-season performances, with third place at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal and then a long-range attack at Il Lombardia. 

Simmons was part of the early break, and he was alone in front with 80km to go. He would be the last man standing as Tadej Pogacar soared past him with 30km to go to claim a fifth straight win, and Simmons still had the wherewithal to hold on for fourth place by day’s end. 

“I think for me, podium or fourth, it doesn’t matter. It’d be nice to stand up or have the picture on the podium, but anyway, I think I made my point,” Simmons said of a performance that confirmed the general trend of his 2025 campaign: “I went up a level.”

Big things have been expected from Simmons ever since he moved directly from being junior world champion to the WorldTour in 2020, but his career has been interrupted at various points. His debut season saw him removed from active duty in the final weeks of the season due to his social media activity, while subsequent years have been interrupted by crashes and illness. Simmons cited a relatively clear run at 2025 as the key factor in his best season in the pro peloton to date.

“I think the biggest thing is the consistency and just not ever having to take a long period off with injury or sickness and just building on that,” he said. “Together with the performance team here and my coach, we’ve really found a good balance that works for me with my time preparing at altitude at home, which is something I really need.”

In Greek mythology, Antaeus was unbeatable as long as he stayed in contact with his mother, the Earth. For Simmons, long spells back in Colorado – both for altitude training and home comforts – are essential to his regimen.

“When I go to the US, I train perfectly. I live at 2,000 metres, my diet is perfect, I have perfect training routes, I have people to ride with, and my dad is there to motor-pace me,” he said. “Everything is just flawless. And I think with that mental freshness that comes out of being in a place you love with people that you love, you can fly in here to Europe to race – and, well, you see what happens when I come in happy.”

Simmons looks set to follow a broadly familiar programme in 2026, with Strade Bianche and Amstel Gold Race major stops on his Spring schedule ahead of an expected return to the Tour de France. New arrival Juan Ayuso will have podium aspirations and Mads Pedersen is chasing the green jersey, but Simmons is adamant that he will chase his own ambition somewhere in that mix.

“If I were to name my biggest objective, it would be to get that Tour stage that I missed this year,” he said. “But I think just to do another season on the same level as last year would already be quite a success.”

Later in the year, the World Championships in Montreal will be a significant target, particularly given Simmons’ spirited display on the same circuit last September. “With 4,000 metres of climbing and my weight, to be there in the final was a confidence boost,” said Simmons, who will expect to be joined by men like Brandon McNulty and Neilson Powless in a strong American line-up. “I think we could put a rider on the podium in what we basically can call our home Worlds – I mean, it’s Canada, but it’s close enough.”

Whatever happens close to home, however, Simmons knows that the health of American cycling will ultimately be judged on those three weeks in July. He saw as much when he returned to Colorado after this year’s Tour.

“You can feel it, how excited people are,” he said. “I’ll be on a training ride and be stopped at a gas station and some guy on his ranch clothes gets out of his truck who you would never expect him to be a bike racing fan, and he’s telling me how excited he is to watch us at the Tour, how nice it was to see the US jersey there. So yeah, with little moments like that, you can feel it.”