Neither Durango’s Quinn Simmons nor Sepp Kuss won a stage in the 2026 Tour de France, but both were recognized after the final stage in Paris for their efforts.
Simmons, the outgoing Durangoan with his signature long hair, sideburns and handlebar mustache, was named the best teammate at the Tour de France for the second consecutive year after the final stage in Paris on Sunday.
“The name on the front is a hell of a lot more important than the one on the back,” Simmons wrote on Instagram. “Thank you, Luca Guercilena. Le Tour de France, I’m not done with you yet.”
Going into the Tour, Kuss was Visma-Lease a Bike team leader Jonas Vingegaard’s domestique. But Vingegaard crashed out of Stage 15 and had to abandon the Tour. This allowed Kuss to finish as the top Visma rider and as the top American.
Simmons showed his versatility throughout the three weeks in France. There were plenty of times when he led his Lidl-Trek teammate, sprinter Mads Petersen, into intermediate sprint stage finishes and helped Petersen take home the green jersey as the best sprinter in the Tour.
Lidl-Trek had two general classification riders, Mattias Skjelmose and Juan Ayuso, whom Simmons led plenty of times through the demanding climbs in a crowded peloton. Simmons helped keep those two safe as Skjelmose finished sixth in the GC standings and Ayuso seventh.
In the hills and mountains of France, Simmons got in plenty of breakaway groups and showed his power, finishing with two top-10 stage finishes, including second place in Stage 4.
Simmons finished the Tour in a career-best 18th in the GC. He was sixth in the youth standings, 16th in the king of the mountain standings, and Lidl-Trek finished as the fastest team, 36:57 ahead of UAE Team Emirates – XRG.
“It’s so special and I think it’s something that we deserve,” Simmons’ Lidl-Trek teammate Carlos Verona said. “We were always fighting for the sprints, in the mountains, intermediate points, and for the GC so I think it’s a really nice reward. To do it with this team and these people, it’s something that most of us will never forget because it’s not so often you can go to the final podium in Paris.”
Although UAE Team Emirates – XRG finished second in the team standings, its top rider, Tadej Pogačar, dominated the Tour for his fifth GC title. After gaining the yellow jersey early in the Tour, Pogačar never looked rattled, even when Visma-Lease a Bike GC contender Jonas Vingegaard was behind him. After Vingegaard crashed and had to abandon the Tour, Pogačar had firm control of the GC.
Pogačar won the GC in 73 hours, 56 minutes and 26 seconds after 21 stages. Remco Evenepoel finished second, 6:26 behind, and Isaac del Toro was third, 9:42 behind. Pogačar finished the 2026 Tour with five stage wins. Pogačar has 26 Tour stage wins in his career. His five Tour wins (2020, 2021, 2024, 2025, 2026) equal the most ever, cementing Pogačar as one of the greatest cyclists of all time.
Kuss came so close to winning a stage in this year’s Tour, with a fourth-place finish in Stage 19 and third in Stage 20. Kuss finished 13th in the GC, 1:02:23 behind Pogačar. His mountain prowess in Stages 19 and 20 propelled him to fourth in the king of the mountain standings.
Stage 21 was mostly a celebration in Paris with not much up for grabs. The stage was shortened from 133 kilometers to 88.7 km because of wildfires in southern France. Part of the security force for the final stage were relocated to the wildfires. There were six laps on the Champs-Élysées followed by three laps over the Montmartre climb.
The streets of Paris were packed with fans as different riders took turns at the front early in the stage. Pogačar and Mathieu Van der Poel separated from the peloton on the Montmartre climb with about 26 km left. Evenepoel joined the pair a few kilometers later, but the peloton brought them in.
However, Pogačar and Van der Poel separated once again with about 6 km left. The two leaders stayed together as the chase group hunted them down until Van der Poel launched an attack with about 700 meters left. Pogačar had nothing left to respond and was swallowed up by the chase group. Van der Poel did just enough to hang onto the win.
Van der Poel won in 1:58:49, with Jasper Philipsen second and Petersen third. Pogačar finished 30th, 17 seconds behind. Kuss finished 124th, 10:54 behind, and Simmons finished 152nd, 13:13 behind.
Richard Carapaz won the king of the mountain, and del Toro won the youth title.
The final Grand Tour of 2026 will be the Vuelta a España from Aug. 22 to Sept. 13. Kuss notably won the Vuelta in 2023, and he hopes to ride in it in 2026. With Vingegaard likely out of the Vuelta as he recovers from his crash in the Tour, GC Kuss could be back in action.