Quinn Simmons to make Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix debut following suspension
The young American was suspended by his team after 'divisive, incendiary, and detrimental' statements online last year
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The junior world champion Quinn Simmons has had his race calendar announced and it will include debuts at Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders, among many other big races now that he has finished his suspension.
Simmons (Trek-Segafredo), 19 years old, was suspended last season after online statements that his team described in a statement as “divisive, incendiary, and detrimental.”
Trek-Segafredo have said that they will try and educate Simmons in the future.
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The incident happened in late September last year when journalist José Been condemned the then US president Donald Trump and urged social media users to unfollow her if they support Trump.
Simmons responded to the tweet saying "bye" with a black waving hand emoji. There was significant backlash from cycling fans against Simmons and his team with Trek saying they were "taking this very seriously" before later announcing the suspension.
The American will start his 2021 season at the Royal Bernard Drôme Classic on February 27 followed by the Faun-Ardèche Classic the next day.
He then takes on his first big race of the year with a place on the Trek team for Strade Bianche, he will stay in Italy for Tirreno-Adriatico and then Milan-San Remo before heading to the low countries and the northern Classics.
E3 Saxo Bank Classic is down first followed by Ghent-Wevelgem then the two Monuments, the Tour of Flanders and the 'hell of the north', Paris Roubaix with Amstel Gold Race to end his first block of racing.
Simmons' team-mate, Jasper Stuyven, said in a VeloNews piece: "Quinn is a really young teenager who is trying to find his way in the WorldTour.
“It’s been a difficult year for him,” said Stuyven. “He is capable is doing both cobbles and Ardennes, so it’s up to him where he wants to go. With the engine he has, and the motivation and confidence he has are impressive. He can become a very good rider.”
His first season as pro rider saw him put in several top performances working in the service of his leaders, such as Mads Pedersen and Stuyven.
But he did get his own chances having already shown his potential with a sixth place at the GP Plouay and second overall at the Tour of Hungary behind native winner Attila Valter (then CCC Team).
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Hi, I'm one of Cycling Weekly's content writers for the web team responsible for writing stories on racing, tech, updating evergreen pages as well as the weekly email newsletter. Proud Yorkshireman from the UK's answer to Flanders, Calderdale, go check out the cobbled climbs!
I started watching cycling back in 2010, before all the hype around London 2012 and Bradley Wiggins at the Tour de France. In fact, it was Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck's battle in the fog up the Tourmalet on stage 17 of the Tour de France.
It took me a few more years to get into the journalism side of things, but I had a good idea I wanted to get into cycling journalism by the end of year nine at school and started doing voluntary work soon after. This got me a chance to go to the London Six Days, Tour de Yorkshire and the Tour of Britain to name a few before eventually joining Eurosport's online team while I was at uni, where I studied journalism. Eurosport gave me the opportunity to work at the world championships in Harrogate back in the awful weather.
After various bar jobs, I managed to get my way into Cycling Weekly in late February of 2020 where I mostly write about racing and everything around that as it's what I specialise in but don't be surprised to see my name on other news stories.
When not writing stories for the site, I don't really switch off my cycling side as I watch every race that is televised as well as being a rider myself and a regular user of the game Pro Cycling Manager. Maybe too regular.
My bike is a well used Specialized Tarmac SL4 when out on my local roads back in West Yorkshire as well as in northern Hampshire with the hills and mountains being my preferred terrain.
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