After a day of racing at the Volta a Catalunya that ranged from a chaotic series of route changes to a bizarre, 25-kilometre-long mini-'stage', emotions in the peloton were understandably very mixed at the hastily improvised uphill finish in Berga on Saturday. But American Quinn Simmons' real delight at taking his first WorldTour win amid the tumultuous finale was clear to see.
After racing strongly in the Pyrenees for Lidl-Trek's GC contender Juan Pedro Lopez, it was clear that Simmons' form remained in place after Strade Bianche. Then, on the Volta a Catalunya's brutally altered stage 6, Simmons was in the right place at the right time to launch a race-winning attack.
The 23-year-old American admitted that his team had not been in favour of starting the stage at all, but had finally gone along with the majority decision to ride a reduced loop, without any classified climbs, that finally boiled down to just over 25 kilometres of actual racing.
Lidl-Trek had voted not to start the wind-blasted stage 6, because "when you're on the bus and it's getting blown about a bit, it's not nice to get out on a bike.
"It was supposed to be the toughest day of all, I was expecting to spend the whole stage in the gruppetto, and today was nice for our team. But it highlights yet again how in cycling, the riders don't stand together, and when we do stand together and vote, the organisation maybe doesn't follow what we want.
"It's exciting to take the victory, but as riders we need to learn to stand together, if we do feel it's dangerous, we should put our foot down."
Simmons pointed out that there was a real feeling of confusion in the bunch because it was unclear if they were going to do two laps or one lap of the altered 73km circuit or if it was going to be one lap 'easy' and then a 'real' lap afterwards.
"Then suddenly we hear on the radio - OK, guys, in two kilometres we start, the race will be 28 kilometres long.'
"I was at the car, taking my clothes off, when this happened. We're lucky we could make a small show in the end - we want to do this for the race and for the fans.
"But as riders, we need always to take safety seriously, just be happy they didn't try to force us to ride into the mountains, you can see it would not have been such a good idea today."
On a day dominated by improvisation and last-minute decisions, the riders had just a quarter of an hour before the stage rolled out to look at the new finale, a twisting, short, but not excessively steep uphill in the centre of Berga. But as Simmons said, once they'd got a clear idea, his director quickly pointed out it was the kind of finish that suited the American.
"It was hard to switch my mind on because I'd got my head around the idea I'd just be in the gruppetto and focus fully on tomorrow. So suddenly we went from 'not racing' to 'racing' to 'maybe racing' to 'racing on a final that suits me'.
"I don't get so many opportunities, if I'm riding a real sprint, then I usually do the lead-out or protecting a climber. On a big mountain day, I'd be in the gruppetto, so I really wanted to go for it."
He agreed with Cyclingnews that his Volta win, no matter how odd the circumstances, has now allowed him to put the Strade setback in the rearview mirror for good.
"Ten kilometres from the finale, I was a few groups back and still a bit switched out and if I'm honest, I just decided - hey, fuck it, it's just 10 kilometres so I just go full and ride myself to the front.
"So I moved full on the climb from the back of the peloton to the front, there's an attack over the top, it stretches out. These efforts of one minute, maybe I'm not the best in the world if I'm fresh, but if you can do it with already having the pain in the legs, I know I'm one of the better guys in the bunch."
The result was a chance to make a victory salute as he crossed the line, a curious joint homage, he explained, to Peter Sagan and Alberto Contador.
"It's funny, I've done the same since I was a junior, although I don't win so much that I can act like it was a habit.
"The first, the beat of the chest - my favourite rider was Sagan and I remember him doing that one time in the Tour [de France] and then my favourite GC rider was Contador, so that was why I did the 'el pistolero' [gesture].
"I always did it as a junior rider and it's nice to pull it out of the bag one time as a professional."
Simmons had told Cyclingnews earlier in the race that a promising start to the year had been badly impacted by his crash and abandon at Strade Bianche, just when his form appeared to be at its best and in an event where he has shone in the past. The Volta a Catalunya was a late addition to his schedule.
"Of course, Strade was a huge disappointment for me, I worked the whole winter for it. I was down to do San Remo and the Basque Country but we have a lot of sickness in the team and I had to come here," he said.
"I live in Girona, so this is as close as a home race can be for me, and I'll be back in the apartment tomorrow [Sunday] night. So to be in this region and racing here is super nice."
