The American made a solo attack about 33km from the finish in Yorkshire to claim a stunning victory. The 19-year-old, who had previously specialized in mountain biking, competed in his first road race less than two years ago.
Simmons finished third in the 2018 Junior Ghent-Wevelgem (his first race in Europe) before winning the SPIE Juniors Lendage, Grand Prix de Lubriland, and Kaiser de Juniors, before winning in Ghent-Wevelgem.
Trek-Segafredo announced the signing of Simmons hours after his victory. The team also announced the signing of U23 time trial winner Antonio Tiberi. [Luca Guercilena, general manager of Trek-Segafredo, said, "We have been looking for young talent that can compete at the top level of cycling. 'This has been our philosophy for several years and we had our eye on both Simmons and Tiberi even before the World Championships. In Yorkshire, we were able to confirm the talents of both of them."
It is very rare for a rider to go straight from juniors to the World Tour without racing as a U23, but in his first season with Deceuninck-Quick Step, Evenpoel won the Classica San Sebastian and European time trial titles and and won the silver medal at Wednesday's Elite World Championship TT.
Simmons' impact in a short period of time was so great that several WorldTour teams showed interest. Team Sunweb manager Ivan Spekenbrink told Cycling News that he has invited him to training sessions and offered him a place in the U23 development setup.
"Quinn won in Ghent-Wevelgem and took the national TT and RR titles earlier this year. 'Winning the World Championships showed once again how much potential he has. His age is young, so we want to mature him slowly, not rushing him and not putting too much pressure on his shoulders.
"Having him in Belgium, where he can be closely supervised by our performance team and our sports director, will be very beneficial for his development and I am confident that in a few years we will see the talent he is showing now.
According to Cycling News, Simmons has two other strong offers from two other WorldTour teams, EF Education First and Beulah Hansgrohe, and Deceuninck Quick and Jumbo Visma are also following his progress.
"I am very excited to be taking the step onto the World Tour with Trek-Segafredo. Trek-Segafredo's ability to develop young athletes and its history of success in the Classics make it a great place for me to continue my development." I hope to learn as much as I can over the next two years and take big steps toward my goal of one day winning Paris-Roubaix."
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