The race was won by Australia\u2019s Michael Matthews of Team Sunweb. He completed the 154-mile route in 6 hours, 1 minute, 14 seconds. That was one second ahead of Slovenia\u2019s Luka Mezgec, France\u2019s Florian S\u00e9n\u00e9chal, Belgium\u2019s Aim\u00e9 De Gendt, Italy\u2019s Alessandro Fedeli and Simmons, who finished second through sixth, respectively.<\/p>\n
It was the longest one-day race of Simmons\u2019 young career. The American from Trek-Segafredo is competing at the World Tour level after he skipped the under-23 ranks following his win at the junior world championships in 2019.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the end, a small selection was made on the final climb at (2 kilometers), and I was able to hang on for sixth,\u201d Simmons said in a message to The Durango Herald<\/em>. \u201cA good step up, and now the next step is the first victory.\u201d<\/p>\n Riders faced heavy rain for the first four hours of the race Tuesday before the sun broke through the clouds. The circuit course was filled with eight punchy climbs with grades between 4.6% and 8.1%.<\/p>\n \u201cHard rolling course where you had to be focused all day,\u201d Simmons said. \u201cUnfortunately, the racing didn\u2019t kick off until quite late in the day, and the bunch stayed quite big. Was hoping for a smaller group coming into the final lap.\u201d<\/p>\n Simmons, the youngest World Tour pro cyclist, has been busy since his return to Europe following the COVID-19 pandemic, and his form has steadily improved. The sixth-place finish was the first top 10 on the World Tour for Simmons.<\/p>\n \u201cOur young gun (Simmons) showed some flare in the tough French Classic, attacking, marking other moves in the final (50 kilometers) and ultimately catching a late break of 7 riders with (1,500) meters remaining and finishing in 6th place,\u201d Trek-Segafredo said in a post to Instagram<\/a>. \u201cWe gotta admit \u2013 we like the way this rookie races!\u201d<\/p>\n Ten days earlier, Simmons had finished 39th at the Dwars oor het Hageland one-day race in Belgium. That was one week after he placed 16th overall after five days at the Tour of Poland in his first race since March.<\/p>\n Being back in the mix at the finish line Tuesday brought back familiar feelings for the Durangoan.<\/p>\n \u201cThanks to Trek-Segafredo for putting faith in me today,\u201d Simmons said. \u201cReally nice to be racing aggressive and be apart of a nice final.\u201d<\/p>\n Saturday, while the cycling world will turn it\u2019s attention to the start of the Tour de France, Simmons will head to the 41st Tour de Hungary. It is a five-stage race. Simmons will use it for further preparation for the upcoming rescheduled one-day classic races, most notably the 118th Paris-Roubaix, which is scheduled for Oct. 25.<\/p>\n