America’s Top Tour Rider Thought He Would Never Race Again Last Year

Sean Quinn is probably not the man you expected to be America’s leading GC hope at this year’s Tour de France.

Matteo Jorgenson, Brandon McNulty or Sepp Kuss all have superior reputations and grand tour pedigree. But it is the EF-Education EasyPost rider having the best grand tour of his life.

Boosted by getting into a Pyrenean breakaway on day four, he soared up to second overall for two days and has stayed consistent through the hilly days in the Massif Central.

Quinn is 16th overall going into stage 14 Saturday, 15:08 behind race leader Tadej Pogačar.

Quinn’s career-threatening injury struggle

Such performances are not something he takes for granted, especially after years of injury problems.

“I had two knee surgeries last year and ongoing knee issues,” he told Velo at the stage start in Dole Friday before stage 13. “It’s been a struggle.

“There’s been a lot of times where I was the only person analyzing my performance and all the motivation was intrinsic. It’s been really easy at a race like this to keep checking boxes and keep the morale up.”

The 2024 US champion has learned to treat every race like his last after enduring those difficulties.

“I think the hardest part is accepting that you may never get back to a level like this,” he says. “You may never race your bike again. And you may never achieve what you wanted to.

“Even if you do, it may not be how you wanted it as a kid or whatever. Once you accept that, you’re doing the process just to do it, make yourself proud and show up for yourself.

“That’s when it starts to get easier. You ignore the outside results and do what you can, show up for yourself.”

Twenty-eight seconds off the yellow jersey

This Tour could have been even more memorable for the 26-year-old. After moving into a big break on stage four, Quinn finished the day seventh on the stage and second overall, 28 seconds behind the new yellow jersey wearer, Torstein Træen (Uno-X Mobility).

Two days leader, Pogačar exploded the Tour over the Tourmalet to seize it. Close, but no maillot jaune.

“I haven’t really dwelled on it in a negative way at all,” Quinn says. “It’s super easy to say: ‘day three, I could have gone hard to the finish and I would have been in the yellow jersey’.

“But the reality is there’s all these small things, the butterfly effect or whatever, that’s going to affect your race down the road. So I’m just staying positive.”

Sean Quinn and EF all-out for stage wins

For Quinn, despite his high position, the GC is an “afterthought”. EF Education-EasyPost are targeted on stages.

“But I think I’ve been going this direction for a long time. I have the power profile of a GC rider but just haven’t really performed in that area in races yet.

“Maybe that’s the direction I’ll move, but the level is so high there that you have to take advantage of days where it is more of a gamble, like breakaway stages.”

“Hopefully the dice rolls in our favor and we can win a stage,” Quinn adds.

Flying the flag at the Tour

Los Angeles native Quinn has found it difficult to get out of the Tour bubble.

To relax, he FaceTimes his girlfriend and friends. He occasionally works on his DJ music side hustle.

Or he can contact one of the five other Americans racing in France to see how they’re doing. Quinn says they have a WhatsApp group, though it is not very active.

“They’re all super good friends of mine. [Matthew] Riccitello had a tough crash in the first week but I think we’ll see him show himself in the third week. He seems to be doing well, I talk to him every day.

“Matteo [Jorgenson] had a similar sickness to me, hopefully we’ll see him turn the corner,” Quinn smiles, inadvertently revealing that he was ill at the end of the race’s first week.

“McNulty and his team are obviously smashing it, Quinn [Simmons] is flying. Sepp [Kuss] is probably the best climbing domestique in the world. He’ll show himself again. It’s a good group.”