‘Peter Sagan made me want to be a bike racer’ – Quinn Simmons calls for riders to be entertainer as well as winners
Quinn Simmons will stand out in the Tour de France peloton with his handlebar mustache, flowing hair, and USA national champion’s stars-and-stripes jersey, but he wants pro riders to be even more outlandish, be more entertaining, and so more appealing to a new global audience of young fans.
“Peter Sagan made me want to be a bike racer,” Simmons said, citing the former three-time world champion, Classics and green points jersey winner as an example of how riders should be successful athletes but also entertainers.
“I grew up in America watching hockey players, and they’re true sports stars. They have personality. Sometimes it’s a bit of a show, but sometimes it’s real. I think we lack that in cycling. When someone wins a Classic, they often say: ‘The legs were good, thanks to the team,’ But that’s boring for a 15-year-old kid watching at home.”
Sagan was a winner and a unique character. He once said: ‘They laugh at me because I’m different, I laugh at them because they’re all the same’ He has a huge tattoo of him looking like the ‘Joker’ with the phrase ‘Why so serious?’ splashed across his body.
Simmons wants riders to be more like Sagan.
“Some of the problems are down to us because we are not entertainers. Sport is first about the performance but lets also give the people something to watch too,” he suggested.
“If you want to talk about the business model of the sport, then it’s messed up that we don’t make the big salaries considering the number of people that watch the sport.”
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Simmons knows he has to perform in major races, including the Tour de France, if he wants to be considered a star and so a true entertainer of the sport.
“The American influencers take the sport too far and forget you need to perform. First, you need to win the big bike races, then you can have a bit of style. I know I need to start winning big bike races,” he said.
Quinn Simmons ahead of the 2025 Tour de France (Image credit: Getty Images)
The 2025 Tour de France presents Simmons with the perfect global stage to shine.
He is one of five US riders in this year’s race, alongside Matteo Jorgenson and Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike), Will Barta (Movistar) and Neilson Powless of EF Education-EasyPost.
He fought hard to secure a place in the Lidl-Trek Tour line-up. “The Tour is the biggest bike race in the world and for an American it’s the only bike race in the world,” he told Cyclingnews.
“I knew since the winter that I had a real chance of selection, but if you look at the riders in this team, it’s always going to be a fight.”
Simmons sealed his place by winning the US national title in late May and especially a stage at the Tour de Suisse with a powerful solo attack from the breakaway of the day.
He made his Tour debut in 2022 but then crashed hard and abandoned the race before stage 9 due to crash injuries and concussion.
“It’s been a rough few years for me. Especially after I crashed out of the Tour last time. But the Tour de Suisse confirmed what I’ve always known: what I have in my legs,” Simmons said.
“My plan was to go into Suisse so good that they don’t have the option to not select me.
“I’d told directeur sportif Steven De Jongh, who is also my coach, that if I was not 100%, then I didn’t want to ride the Tour. I’ve started the Tour a bit off form in the past, and it’s not a fun place to be. This year is different. I feel I’m in the best shape of my life.”
Lild-Trek has named Mattias Skjelmose as their GC leader, with much of the team selected to help Jonathan Milan in the sprints and give Thibau Nys a chance on the hillier stages.
Simmons may get some freedom to go in breaks later in the race, but first, he has to work as a breakaway killer, riding on the front of the peloton to chase the attackers.
“I’d prefer to do that than sit in the bunch,” he said.
“The sprint days feel so long when you don’t have a sprinter, but when you have a rider like Johnny, one of these days, he’s going to get it done, and that’s super nice for the whole team.
“There are some big opportunities for me, but we’ve got to get through the first week, do the sprints for Johnny and keep Mattias safe, too. Then maybe it’ll be my chance.”
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