Quinn Simmons would be the first to admit that crashing out of Strade Bianche this March was a huge disappointment, but less than a month later, the Lidl-Trek racer has already shown at the Volta a Catalunya that he's bouncing back fast.
Simmons could be seen setting the pace for his GC teammates on the lower slopes of the final climb on stage 3 to La Molina, proving that he is both in good underlying condition and that he's up for his next goals this season.
"I was on the front of a 5,000 metre [of climbing] mountain stage so for me that's the best I can hope for, it's as good as it can be for me," Simmons told Cyclingnews.
The 23-year-old says a strong performance in Amstel Gold is his next big target in 2025, followed by another Nationals participation in June - 'I want my jersey back,' as the 2023 road champion succinctly put it - and after that, his number one goal of the season is to get a place in the Lidl-Trek Tour de France team.
"We have Juanpe [López] trying to do the GC [at the Volta], it's a bit sad we lost Tao [Geoghegan Hart, DNS on stage 2 due to illness - Ed.] already but we'll try and make the most of the week," Simmons told Cyclingnews on Thursday, "and it's nice for me to go deep with the races coming up."
Logically enough, Simmons was still disappointed that with such strong form, he did not get a chance to show it in Strade Bianche.
"I was good there, but then a stupid crash takes me out of contention, so you never know how going to see this," he said.
"Of course that fitness doesn't go away, maybe you're depressed for a week after but as long as you can stay checked in and you have the fitness [then] the work has been done."
Simmons did get the opportunity after Strade to ride in the corresponding event sportif the following day with his family. "My mum and my dad were riding it so I just did a bit with them, it was nice to ride in the final with them," he explained.
But the key takeaway, despite that Strade setback, was that his base early season condition is strong and at the Volta, Simmons is intent on showing that to the full.
"I did my normal altitude camp before the season started in New Mexico, and the form was good. Strade was the objective and I missed the luck so I didn't show that the preparation was good. But the numbers don't lie," he argued.
Rather than finding a specific reason for his stand-out condition, Simmons says he changed a lot of his preparation this winter, "so it's hard to say what the difference was." However, one thing that did not have any effect, he says, was finishing his year so late in 2024, where he rode right the way through to tenth place in the Tour de Guangxi.
"For me, I'd have been happy if the season had finished in the Worlds, for most of us mentally, the season ends there. The hardest part was to keep training in those two weeks between the Worlds and China; that was difficult," he reflected.
"But then after that, you take your normal month off, and we all have such good coaches now you can prepare in the time you that have."
Looking ahead at 2025 rather than back at 2024, Simmons overriding goal, he says, is to make it to France in July, and to be part of the Lidl-Trek lineup for road cycling's number one event.
"Going with Milan as a leader is a super-exciting prospect, and if I can be there to help him go for the points jersey and take some stages, this'd be a dream," he explains.
Before that, though, there's the question of the stars-and-stripes jersey that Simmons wants for himself, which will be on offer in Charleston, West Virginia, in late May. However, the 23-year-old points out that in a race where WorldTour pros like himself are in a distinct minority, the Nationals are anything but predictable.
"It's the same as last year, quite a hard course, which is quite good for me, but our Nationals are quite strange," he says.
"We have 100 Conti riders that will basically kill themselves to follow one move, so in the end, it's like the four WorldTour guys versus the rest of the peloton.
"It's a bit of a luck roll, but the majority of the peloton there - their claim to fame will be they covered one attack. So, even if you're the best rider in the world, it'd be hard to do this against 60 guys. We'll have to see how it goes."
For now, in any case, Simmons is focussed on showing his strongest side in the Volta a Catalunya. And while West Virginia and the Tour de France are still a good way away, he is clearly already on a very promising pathway.
