{"id":459149,"date":"2026-02-07T05:57:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T05:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/459149\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T05:57:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T05:57:11","slug":"i-dont-want-anything-to-do-with-roubaix-quinn-simmons-says-paris-roubaix-is-so-scary-as-he-targets-other-classics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/459149\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I don’t want anything to do with Roubaix’ \u2013 Quinn Simmons says Paris-Roubaix is ‘so scary’ as he targets other Classics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Don\u2019t expect to see Quinn Simmons<\/a> return to Paris-Roubaix<\/a> soon, after the Lidl-Trek<\/a> rider said he doesn\u2019t want \u201canything to do\u201d with the cobbled Monument.<\/p>\n

The US road champion made his only career appearance at the \u2018Hell of the North\u2019 in 2021, then 20 years old and in his second year as a pro, in what was a wet and muddy edition. He did not finish the race.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Speaking as a guest this week on Watts Occuring<\/a>, the podcast hosted by Luke Rowe<\/a> and Geraint Thomas<\/a>, Simmons explained why he will not race Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders<\/a> this spring, and will instead target Strade Bianche<\/a> and the Amstel Gold Race<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI don\u2019t want anything to do with Roubaix,\u201d the 24-year-old said. \u201cThe risks to the reward, I don\u2019t know, for me it\u2019s such a dangerous race and it\u2019s so scary. Realistically, I\u2019m not going to win it, and I don\u2019t have the balls to go 80kph towards Arenberg<\/a> to maybe be top 10.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was one of the races that made me want to be a pro, but I think if I were to target one of the two, I think Flanders would be a better race for me. For sure, that\u2019s down the line, but not this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\"Quinn\n<\/p>\n

Simmons did not finish Paris-Roubaix on debut in 2021. <\/p>\n

(Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Simmons also has one career appearance at the Tour of Flanders, made too in 2021. He said he asked his team about returning to the Belgian Monument this season, and spoke to Classics leader Mads Pedersen<\/a> about it, but it was decided he would not race.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the way [Pedersen] looks at it is, on his day, he can beat those two [Tadej Poga\u010dar<\/a> and Mathieu van der Poel<\/a>], and he wants the team fully for him there,\u201d Simmons said. \u201cI\u2019m not going to sacrifice a perfect preparation for Amstel to go and do a drag race the last time into the Kwaremont.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI stay away from Belgium this year. Like you say, the team is so good, and with Mads as such a big leader, and so many guys to support him, there\u2019s not really a spot for me.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can go to Strade as leader, and then I can also target Amstel, so for me those will be the two biggest one-day goals. To be honest, like you said, in Flanders, we already have the team that\u2019s going to 100% nail the positioning. They don\u2019t need me there. When you go with a guy like Mads as the leader, he deserves to have seven guys there for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simmons\u2019s career best result at Strade Bianche came in 2022 when he finished seventh. He has started Amstel Gold twice \u2013 in 2023 and 2025 \u2013 but failed to finish both times.<\/p>\n

Following his spring campaign, the US champion will head to the Tour de France<\/a>, a race where he was a key animator last year, finishing second on stage six<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, it\u2019s the goal to step up,\u201d he said of the year ahead, \u201cbut, I think also if I\u2019m reasonable, if I just match last season, it\u2019s already a success.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t expect to see Quinn Simmons return to Paris-Roubaix soon, after the Lidl-Trek rider said he doesn\u2019t want…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":459150,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-459149","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-cycling","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=459149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459149\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/459150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}