Updated July 17, 2026 01:06PM
US national champion Quinn Simmons gave his father Scott a high five as he launched one of his characteristic mega-watt attacks on stage 12 of the Tour de France Thursday.
One of the viral, feelgood moments of this year’s Tour de France was born.
And what’s more, as his parents explained to Velo today, it was totally unplanned.
His parents Scott and Holly had flown in from the USA that day. They assembled their bikes and Scott fancied a little ride to turn his legs after along the long flight.
“I thought to myself, ‘if Quinn is going to attack, he’ll probably do it right around here,” he told Velo of the short hill, about 35 kilometers from the finish in Chalon-sur-Saône.
“Sure enough, I’m standing there and see him coming up,” he says. “Attacking, hauling everyone. I was like ‘whoa!’”
Quinn Simmons was no doubt surprised too: his parents say they told him they would be at the finish, not on the race route.
“Then he sticks out his hand for a five,” Scott says. “I was kind of like, ‘I don’t know if this is the place for that!’ I stuck my hand out at the last minute and we pulled it off.”
A family on two wheels
Simmons Snr. was in demand, being sought out for media interviews at the start village in Dole before stage 13 Friday.
Pro road racing has become a family affair. Quinn’s younger brother Colby is also on the WorldTour with US team EF Education-EasyPost, preparing for the Tour of Poland back in the family’s home town of Durango, Colorado.
“It’s incredible how much work they put in, the sacrifice they make. I’m real proud,” Scott says.
“We didn’t really want to raise them to be bike racers. That wasn’t the goal, I wanted to raise them to be tough.”
Quinn was just six years old when he completed the entire 100-mile White Rim Trail and has shown his stamina and attacking spirit throughout his four Tour de France participations.
While providing strong teamwork for Lidl-Trek, he has made a barrage of breakaway bids.
This year, he equalled his best ever Tour result on stage four into Foix, with second place behind his team captain and current points classification leader Mads Pedersen.
Young Quinn’s Tour boredom
His parents Holly and Scott never thought they or their son would be at the Tour de France. “Especially with road biking. We were mountain bikers,” Scott says. He was an elite MTB racer and competitive ski mountaineering athlete, enjoying backcountry adventures.
“I like to be outside in the mountains and the bike is one of the ways to do it, so i ride a bike a fair bit,” Simmons said.
“A little funny story: I used to always watch the Tour way back, especially in the Lance [Armstrong] era.”
“Quinn would be begging me to shut it off so I could watch something else! He’d get all mad I was watching the Tour again.”
Quinn got into road biking on the local Tuesday Night Worlds group ride in Durango, CO.
“We go out there, try to beat each other up,” Scott says. “First time I took Quinn, he did really well and just caught the bug with the speed and the competitiveness.”
The first time Quinn beat his dad
Scott can remember the first time Quinn dropped him – after they had been over at a friend’s place for a big dinner.
“We went out for a ride right after, Quinn took off. I tried to hold his wheel and lost my lunch!
“He was 13, I think. We went back and forth for a few years, we’d call it wearing the leader’s jersey: whoever’s stronger that day. Eventually, I lost it for good.”
Holly and Scott Simmons have often made the journey to France when their son is racing the sport’s blockbuster race. They have a little van and sleep on the side of the road.
“The Tour life is kind of like following the Grateful Dead back in the day,” Scott says.
“Oh my god, don’t print that. That’s a great comparison – but it makes us look old!” Holly exclaims, with a laugh.
Toughness, endurance and a spirit for adventure runs in the family. the Simmons parents will ride some “close to 10,000-foot [3,000 meter] days” on the bike.
In the process, they will catch some glimpses of Quinn in his eye-catching national champion’s jersey coming past, a lot faster than they will be riding.
“The kids make fun of us for our average speed,” Scott says. “We don’t look at it!”
