Twelve days ago, Colby Simmons became a professional bike racer. Six days ago, he rode his first Monument at the Tour of Flanders. Tomorrow, he will start his second one at Paris-Roubaix.The American rider’s career, as he admits, is moving fast – but that’s just how he likes it.
“I was set to sign with the EF Education-EasyPost WorldTour team on the first of April, and then I wasn't sure what my programme would be because with a lot of guys injured, it was up in the air,” he reflects. “The team called me about a week and a half before that and told me I’d be doing Flanders and Roubaix which was a surprise – but a really nice one.”
Simmons is speaking to me a few days after his debut in De Ronde – he headed back to his European base in Girona for the week leading up to the Hell of the North – and he’s readying to travel back to France to do a recon of the fabled Roubaix cobbles. How has he recovered from his first Monument participation – the longest ride he’s ever done?
“I was pretty surprised that I wasn’t too bad the day after and still got out on the bike for an easy spin – I felt okay,” he says. “I wouldn’t say that Flanders was easier than expected, but as a rider I’m quite good at positioning and don’t have a problem with that. The main thing was just the distance – I’ve never raced that far before so the overall fatigue hit me after 200-kilometres and the hardest part was having the energy to continue that after five and half hours.”
Image: EF Education-EasyPost/Anouk Flesch
Although he’d had to fight through the closing stages, Simmons crossed the finish line in Oudenaarde inside the top-100 last weekend, and he says he had to use all of his reserves to make it there. The last hour of racing consisted of eating and drinking as much as he could, as well as trying to maintain a positive mindset: “In your mind you have to think that everybody around you is also going through it, they're also suffering. Also with the crowds there and everything, that kind of takes away a bit of the pain. I just keep pedalling.”
The gravity of competing in races like Flanders and Roubaix is not lost on the 21-year-old. Simmons regales stories of growing up watching these races on television alongside his brother Quinn (who is also in the WorldTour peloton but with Lidl-Trek). When Quinn was racing the junior edition of Roubaix, Colby and his family came to watch and spectated Flanders that same year too. The Simmons are bike racing fans living their dreams.
“It’s pretty crazy even to say now that I've raced Flanders, because coming from America, Flanders, Roubaix and the Tour de France are races people actually know. It’s surreal and gives me perspective on what it takes to win a race like that and be competitive on the front,” Simmons explains.
“I started cycling when I was quite young and to be honest, at first I hated riding my bike because my parents would just use it to force us out on weekends,” he laughs. “When my brother started to take it more seriously I got more and more interested in it and joined the same junior team as him. We knew you had to pretty much live in Europe in order to make it so having my brother do that really gave me motivation.”
Simmons admits that there was always a level of healthy competition between him and his sibling: “You always want to be the best brother but I’d say I’m more competitive with him than the other way round, because he knows he's better than me, but that gives me something to chase. It’s super special to say that we both race our bikes in Europe and I live in Girona with him when we’re over here, so it’s nice having a family member when you’re in a foreign place. We can also train together when our schedules line up.”
EF Education-EasyPost is also a team where Simmons already feels at home. He explains that riding for an American squad gives a sense of familiarity, and the opportunities he’s already been given are a sign of the confidence they have in him as a young rider. Being teammates with riders like Neilson Powless, who won E3 Saxo Classic in swashbuckling style a few weeks ago when he outsprinted Wout van Aert at the finish, also means that Simmons is in the perfect place to learn from those with more experience.
“In the future, these types of Classics are the races I think I can be at the front and compete in. I’m not a pure climber or pure sprinter, I’m in between,” he says. “Flanders was my first race with Neilson and he’d just pulled off his big win which brings a lot of good morale to the team in Flanders. It’s super cool to have him in the race giving me some tips on where to save energy and stuff.”
Image: EF Education-EasyPost/Gruber
While Simmons is aware of how much developing he still has to do in order to one day be a Classics winner, his confidence at a young age is also striking. It’s this trait which has got him so far in his career so quickly, and it’s something that means he has the potential to perform above expectations for a rider so new to the WorldTour. While he has the utmost respect for other riders in the bunch, Simmons won’t be intimidated by those who have had more experience than him.
“You have to give respect to everyone around you, but when it comes to positioning it’s about being in the right place at the right time. You have to look at it like everybody is there to race. I know I’m not going to be one of the favourites at the end but it’s a bike race and everyone wants to be at the front,” he states. “You have to have the confidence and believe you belong there.”
The American rider’s idol is, naturally, Tadej Pogačar, who will make an unprecedented appearance in Paris-Roubaix this weekend. Simmons says he watched the Slovenian rider finesse the bergs of Belgium in awe during De Ronde, something he can only dream of emulating one day.
“Pogačar is somebody that everyone looks up to with his dominance and everything, in Flanders he made it look so easy,” Simmons says, “He’s just sitting there, perfect cadence, perfect everything. I can just dream of being like that someday. It’s honestly so cool to be racing with him.”
When it comes to Simmons’ own Sunday in Hell, however, he explains that he will need to focus on the race entirely if he wants to perform, carrying as much confidence in his ability as possible. The EF rider has competed in the under-23 event at Roubaix before – where he finished in 15th place – so he has an idea of what to expect, but he stresses that he is prepared for Sunday with the pros be a very different proposition.
“It definitely doesn’t hurt having done the under-23 race before but it’s a totally different ball game with the distance in the elites,” he says. “The positioning being so important is an advantage for me actually and that suits me well. At the moment I think I enjoy the cobbles – we’ll see if I’m still saying the same after Sunday!”
Regardless of where he finishes after 260 kilometres of bone-shattering cobbles this weekend, riding into the velodrome is going to be a special moment for Simmons, the rider who, in his first two weeks as a professional, can scarcely believe he’s getting the chance to do this at all.
“Getting to the velodrome is my goal, because so much can happen during the race. You never know and I feel in a good spot with my fitness so maybe I can surprise myself,” he muses.
“Roubaix is my dream race to win one day. You have to be lucky and have the fitness, and it’s the race everyone knows. It’s special. In the future to be racing at the front and being competitive, that would be awesome.”
Cover image: Getty
