World Championships 2019: Super Quinn Simmons solos to junior road race title

ByMichael Hincks

Updated 26/09/2019 at 16:18 GMT

Quinn Simmons conquered the Yorkshire rain to secure a superb solo victory and claim the junior road race title at the UCI Road World Championships on Thursday.

The 18-year-old finished the 148.1km Richmond-Harrogate route in 3:38:04, with Italian Alessio Martinelli taking silver after crossing the line 56 seconds later.

Simmons' team-mate Magnus Sheffield was a further 37 seconds adrift to claim the bronze after prevailing in a thrilling four-way sprint against Enzo Leijnse (Netherlands), Gianmarco Garofoli (Italy) and Vegard Stokke (Norway).

Simmons solos to victory ahead of thrilling four-way battle for bronze

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Simmons won the time trial at the US’ National Junior Road Championships earlier this year, adding to his road race win in 2018.

In Yorkshire, Simmons benefitted from a fine team effort as the US chased down lone leader Max Walker (GB).

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Simmons and team-mate Magnus Sheffield were then part of a five-man breakaway, which also featured Lewis Askey (GB), Carlos Cano Rodriguez (Spain) and Pavel Bittner (Czech Republic).

And it was Simmons who opted to go solo with more than 30km to go, holding a 39-second advatange as the distance dropped to 14km left.

Martinelli emerged from the peloton to chase down Simmons, but the American simply increased his advantage to seal an emphatic victory.

Behind Martinelli, the race for bronze heated up as Leijnse, Garofoli and Stokke all caught up with Sheffield.

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But Sheffield still had enough in the tank after a valiant ride to beat the trio in a sprint to the line and ensure the US left the junior road race with two medals.

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