There are a handful of options for who the best rider of the first 11 days of this Tour de France is. There’s Ben Healy, stage winner, in the yellow jersey; Tadej Pogačar, two-time stage winner, the next best on general classification; Mathieu van der Poel, stage winner, yellow jersey holder, and relentless attacker; Tim Merlier, two-time stage winner; and even Jonas Vingegaard, who has lost time, but is very much on the front foot.
Then there’s Quinn Simmons. Lidl-Trek’s US champion is hardly inconspicuous, with his long hair, handlebar moustache and stars and stripes kit, but the 24-year-old has been on the attack as often as he can: second on stage six to Vire Normandie, won by Healy, and in the break for 150km the day the same man took yellow on Le Mont-Dore on Sunday.
