Simmons Times It To Perfection To Win Stage 4 In Montrond-les-Bains As The Break Beats The Bunch By Seconds
Quinn Simmons threw his arms aloft for the first time in 2026, surviving a breakaway nail-biter to win stage 4 of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes — the rebranded Critérium du Dauphiné — in Montrond-les-Bains. The American national champion held off a charging peloton by barely ten seconds, beating Finn Fisher-Black in the sprint from the escape with Mattéo Vercher third.
It was a third consecutive day on which the breakaway denied the sprinters, but never has the margin felt thinner. The 167.4km stage from Le Puy-en-Velay sent the riders over five moderate climbs in the opening 110km before a long descent and a flat run-in of around 35km that handed the fast men's teams every reason to chase. They did — yet they could not quite close the door.
"Behind the Tour de France, this is the biggest stage race of the year," Simmons said. "It's been a year since I put my hands in the air. The biggest six weeks of our season is right now, so to have confirmation that the form is there is really nice." The Lidl-Trek rider had been held back for Tuesday's team time trial and admitted he had finally been "unleashed" on stage 4.
The attacks came thick and fast on the opening climb out of Le Puy-en-Velay, and Simmons dug deep to bridge into what eventually settled as a ten-rider move. The group worked together with real purpose, refusing to play games even as the gap was whittled from two minutes to fifty seconds with 25km remaining. Cofidis, Alpecin and Visma-Lease a Bike drove the chase, the latter desperate to deliver Wout van Aert to the line.
Inside the final kilometre the escape began attacking itself with the bunch breathing down its neck, but Simmons read the finale perfectly. "I was a bit scared when they only gave us two minutes, but in the end it plays into my favour when the break has to ride hard the whole way," he said of his eighth career professional win and his first sprint victory. Sam Watson had earlier crashed out of the move on the final descent.
There was no change at the top of the general classification. Overnight leader Alex Baudin of EF Education-EasyPost came home safely in the bunch to defend yellow by 12 seconds, with Kévin Vauquelin and Oscar Onley still his closest rivals. Team time trial winner Matteo Jorgenson remained fourth at 15 seconds, the Visma man riding comfortably through on his return from a broken collarbone.
The pre-race favourites stayed hidden. Teenage sensation Paul Seixas of Decathlon CMA CGM and UAE's Isaac del Toro saved their matches for the weekend, when the race climbs into the Alps and the general classification will finally ignite. Thursday's 195.8km stage 5 from Saint-Chamond to Parc des Oiseaux Villars-les-Dombes offers opportunists one last flat-ish chance before the mountains decide everything.
For Simmons, the timing could hardly be better. Three weeks out from the Grand Départ in Barcelona, the 24-year-old has the form and the confidence to match his stars-and-stripes jersey. "The Tour is the biggest race of the year, and I think today and yesterday I showed that I deserve to be there," he said.