{"id":2051297,"date":"2026-07-18T13:47:02","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T10:47:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2051297"},"modified":"2026-07-18T13:47:02","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T10:47:02","slug":"americas-top-tour-rider-thought-he-would-never-race-again-last-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2051297","title":{"rendered":"America\u2019s Top Tour Rider Thought He Would Never Race Again Last Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2284756411-scaled.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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Andy McGrath<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Updated July 18, 2026 09:26AM<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Sean Quinn is probably not the man you expected to be America\u2019s leading GC hope at this year\u2019s Tour de France.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Quinn is 16th overall going into stage 14 Saturday, 15:08 behind race leader Tadej Poga\u010dar.<\/p>\n

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Quinn\u2019s career-threatening injury struggle<\/h2>\n

Such performances are not something he takes for granted, especially after years of injury problems.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had two knee surgeries last year and ongoing knee issues,\u201d he told Velo <\/i>at the stage start in Dole Friday before stage 13. \u201cIt\u2019s been a struggle.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been a lot of times where I was the only person analyzing my performance and all the motivation was intrinsic. It\u2019s been really easy at a race like this to keep checking boxes and keep the morale up.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 2024 US champion has learned to treat every race like his last after enduring those difficulties.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the hardest part is accepting that you may never get back to a level like this,\u201d he says. \u201cYou may never race your bike again. And you may never achieve what you wanted to.<\/p>\n

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\u201cEven if you do, it may not be how you wanted it as a kid or whatever. Once you accept that, you\u2019re doing the process just to do it, make yourself proud and show up for yourself.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s when it starts to get easier. You ignore the outside results and do what you can, show up for yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Twenty-eight seconds off the yellow jersey<\/h2>\n

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 Tr\u00e6en (Uno-X Mobility).<\/p>\n

Two days leader, Poga\u010dar exploded the Tour over the Tourmalet to seize it. Close, but no maillot jaune<\/i>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t really dwelled on it in a negative way at all,\u201d Quinn says. \u201cIt\u2019s super easy to say: \u2018day three, I could have gone hard to the finish and I would have been in the yellow jersey\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the reality is there\u2019s all these small things, the butterfly effect or whatever, that\u2019s going to affect your race down the road. So I\u2019m just staying positive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sean Quinn and EF all-out for stage wins<\/h2>\n

For Quinn, despite his high position, the GC is an \u201cafterthought\u201d. EF Education-EasyPost are targeted on stages.<\/p>\n

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\u201cBut I think I\u2019ve been going this direction for a long time. I have the power profile of a GC rider but just haven\u2019t really performed in that area in races yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe that\u2019s the direction I\u2019ll 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully the dice rolls in our favor and we can win a stage,\u201d Quinn adds.<\/p>\n

Flying the flag at the Tour<\/h2>\n
Photo: Gruber Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Los Angeles native Quinn has found it difficult to get out of the Tour bubble.<\/p>\n

To relax, he FaceTimes his girlfriend and friends. He occasionally works on his DJ music side hustle.<\/p>\n

Or he can contact one of the five other Americans racing in France to see how they\u2019re doing. Quinn says they have a WhatsApp group, though it is not very active.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThey\u2019re all super good friends of mine. [Matthew] Riccitello had a tough crash in the first week but I think we\u2019ll see him show himself in the third week. He seems to be doing well, I talk to him every day.<\/p>\n

\u201cMatteo [Jorgenson] had a similar sickness to me, hopefully we\u2019ll see him turn the corner,\u201d Quinn smiles, inadvertently revealing that he was ill at the end of the race\u2019s first week.<\/p>\n

\u201cMcNulty and his team are obviously smashing it, Quinn [Simmons] is flying. Sepp [Kuss] is probably the best climbing domestique in the world. He\u2019ll show himself again. It\u2019s a good group.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Andy McGrath<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Updated July 18, 2026 09:26AM<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-racing\/tour-de-france\/americas-top-tour-rider-thought-he-would-never-race-again-last-year\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2284756411-scaled.jpg”] Andy McGrath Updated July 18, 2026 09:26AM Sean Quinn is probably not the man you expected to be America\u2019s leading GC hope at this year\u2019s 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,71],"class_list":["post-2051297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2051297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2051297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2051297\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2051297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2051297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2051297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}