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There’s something about the World Championships that is almost unique in bike racing, with the possible exception of Paris-Roubaix; and never was this more in evidence than in the Worlds races at Montréal at the weekend. While the Grand Tours and some of the Classics can feel almost orchestrated, especially when one team or rider is clearly strongest (naming no names), the Worlds is a visceral, two-wheeled boxing match.
With huge numbers of fatigue-inducing kilometres already in the legs, and isolated from any outside help, we saw riders bludgeon each other repeatedly around the Mount Royal circuit, with varying levels of tiredness, desperation and determination all laid bare for the world to see.
If you watched those displays of no-holds-barred brutality in Montréal and wondered exactly what it took to be there at the sharp end of a race like that, fourth-place finisher Quinn Simmons has at least part of the answer for you.
Like his US teammates Matteo Jorgenson and new champion Brandon McNulty, Simmons posted his ride on Strava. All three files showed the outlandish 276km (171-mile) distance, the long hours in the saddle, and the vicious, serrated profile of Mount Royal’s multiple laps.
But Quinn Simmons – who posts under the pseudonym Ricky Bobby (a fictional NASCAR driver) – reveals one parameter that is rare to see from a pro cyclist, and which gives a deeper insight into what it takes to be up there among the best: power.
The pop culture references don’t stop with Simmons’s Strava name – he called his Worlds ride ‘Someone PLAY FREEBIRD’, and quotes the film ‘Miracle on Ice’ in the description, writing: “You play ’em 10, you might lose 9. Not today.”
On to that all important power. For a moving time of 6hr 24min 56sec, Simmons averaged 291 watts which, when taking into account the myriad climbs and changes of pace, translated to a monster normalised power of 361 watts. Other stats include an average heart rate of 150bpm, with a 190bpm maximum – achieved as he crested the Voie Camillien Houde for the eighth time, during his stint out front with Mathieu van der Poel and Primož Roglič. He also registered numerous Strava Achievements, including KoM on the Pont de 35 UP segment – a motorway bridge early on in course, of all places.
Speaking after the race, Simmons told NOS: “In cycling so many times you make a plan and it doesn’t go well. We lose so many races every year. In the meeting last night… I mean we’re all on different teams, and we said, ‘no matter what, an American needs to finish on the podium’. And I said ‘Hey boys, anything’s possible. We race for the podium but more could happen if we ride like this. And we did exactly that.”
Addressing his fourth place, just outside the medals, he said: “Whatever – who cares about missing a medal when the team takes the jersey.”
