'It's almost rarer than winning a stage' – USA's Sean Quinn comes agonisingly close to yellow jersey at the Tour de France
EF Education-EasyPost rider now less than 30 seconds off race lead after breakaway dig
Twenty eight seconds. That’s all that separated Sean Quinn from taking the yellow jersey at the Tour de France on stage three. It’s the time it might take him to put on a pair of cycling shoes, do a few pre-race stretches, or make a recovery shake. On Tuesday in Foix, it felt like an eternity.
The former US national road champion was part of a 34-man breakaway that formed out of Carcassonne. The second best placed in GC among the escapees, he began the day more than five and a half minutes behind the race leader Tadej Pogačar, and gained almost 13 minutes at the line with seventh place.
The result catapulted him up the standings. But only to second overall. The yellow jersey went instead to Uno-X’s Torstein Traæn, the breakaway’s highest GC contender by 28 seconds, who Quinn couldn’t shake off in the blazing heat of the Pyrenees. Lidl-Trek's Mads Pedersen took stage honours.
“I’m a little disappointed I didn’t get yellow, didn’t win the stage,” Quinn told Cycling Weekly, a resigned tone in his voice, as he stood in the shade of his EF Education-EasyPost bus. “But [Lidl-]Trek was super-strong today, and so was Torstein [Træen]. Maybe in a few days’ time we’ll see how the race develops.”
Not since Greg Lemond in 1991 has an American worn the yellow jersey at the Tour de France. (Yes, Lance Armstrong, Floyd Landis, David Zabriskie and George Hincapie have led the race since, but their results were later scratched off for using performance-enhancing drugs).
In the years since, Neilson Powless has come the closest – within four seconds after stage six in 2022. However, the wait for a star-spangled Tour leader now extends to three and a half decades.
Tom Southam, one of EF Education-EasyPost’s sports directors, hatched a plan to try and change that on Monday evening. “We thought it was possible today,” he said. “Andreas [Klier, sports director] and I spoke about it last night, and then we spoke about it all together with Charly [Wegelius, sports director] this morning.
“It wasn’t like we all sat on the bus and said, ‘Right, we’re going to go and take the yellow jersey.’ But we knew in the back of our minds that only a certain group of riders can be strong enough to go into the break, and [Quinn] was one of the best placed of that group who could manage to do it.
“We had in mind that the yellow jersey is always special – to take it is almost rarer than winning a stage.”
Over the last few editions of the race, EF have proved themselves capable of masterminding a stint in the race lead. They're one of only a handful of teams that have pierced through the dominance of UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Visma-Lease a Bike, who seem to swap the yellow jersey like twins sharing clothes.
Still, EF's Ben Healy snatched it for two days last year, Richard Carapaz for one in 2024. Might Quinn be the team's next Tour star? In the former American champion, the sports directors saw a rider brave enough to take it on.
“He gave it a good crack,” Southam said. “Especially with the heat, it was more about trying to find a way to crack Torstein Traæen, which isn’t easy; he is where he is on GC because he’s already ridden faster than Sean so far. He’s a good cyclist, he can climb well.”
And so, following Quinn closely across the line, the yellow jersey dream went to Traæn.
The reality was disheartening for the American. “I think, as a pro athlete, you’re usually going to have the mindset of what you could have done differently,” he said.
“Being second feels pretty much the same as being 56th, or whatever I was yesterday [26th – ed]. It doesn't change your life. I'm still the same guy.”
It might not have been what Quinn came for, but being second at the Tour is still something very few cyclists will ever get to say. “He’s a great kid,” said Southam, “a nice guy to have around. I hope for some big success for him.”
