"The fans really embrace the Captain America" - Quinn Simmons concludes his season with a trademark celebration
Cycling
Quinn Simmons eventually succeeded in search for his third victory of this season at his appointment in Japan. In a weakened field, the American champion did not hesistate to defend his status of overwhelming favourite and delievered a convicing performance topped off with a "Captain America" style victory celebration.
To conclude the season, riders travelled east for final last appointment in the land of samurais. The Japan Cup (1.Pro) already got underway on Saturday with an appetizer criterium won by Jesper Stiansen, bronze medallist from under-23 World Championships.
The main dish then featured fourteen 10-kilometer laps in Utsunomiya, totalling at over 2,500 altitude meters.
With an unrelenting circuit, it did not take long for the race to become selective - exactly as Simmons needed. And then, with 30 kilometers to go, he left the small remaining peloton behind with only co-favourite Ben Healy in his wheel.
This scenario was perfect for the American who could lean back and only control his closest rival while navigating the race to a head-to-head sprint finale. There, Healy did not give Simmons much trouble and thus the Lidl-Trek rider could savor the support of Japanese crowds to the fullest with a trademark celebration.
"It’s nice here," Simmons said at the finish. "The fans really embrace the Captain America, so I really wanted to sign off for the season and give them a salute to say thank you to Japan for putting on such a nice race. I’m pleased to see all the supporters on the side of the road with their cool signs and everything."
Race played out as expected
"Everyone knew we were the two strongest in the race," he said of himself and Healy. "Luckily the course is selective enough that we could make the difference and have a fair battle between us."
"I was quite confident in my sprint, so I knew I just had to make it over the climbs the last time. I was able to survive. It was nice racing with him," he concluded.
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Sweet finish to a great season
Simmons can look back at yet another great season. Next to his three victories (Tour Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes stage, National Championships, and in Japan), Simmons played a vital role as a teammate of Mads Pedersen at the Tour de France, and later Brandon McNulty at the World Championships in Montréal where he competed for a podium himself.
All of that was enough to place Simmons among the wider range of the best riders in the world, coming through to the top-25 of UCI ranking as a late boost of points from Japan allows Simmons to surge past the 2,000 UCI points bareer.
Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- Just looked again at the photo. Yeah I stand by that. If MS had fallen over in Brands direction I don’t even think she would have hit her. You must be a UCI race commissioner. I’ll be sure to check my sock height should I ever see you on a ride. Looks like everyone else on here sees what I see.mij08-11-2026
- I said looking at the photo it doesn’t appear she deviated. Chill out, not stating my word is the final judgement. Just commenting that based on the photo I don’t see it. And BTW the Dutch coach even said she didn’t impede her.mij08-11-2026
- Blah Blah Blah !frieders308-11-2026
- MS said she was changing gears so that caused her slight deviation. Nothing was intentional.frieders308-11-2026
- How can you use a photo post incident to judge the incident itself (which is not hard to find if you’re prepared to invest the same amount of time in searching as writing that comment? It’s harsh but technically right even though this or worse is not always sanctioned in every race. The two things that went against MS (who unfortunately for her would still have won without making her mistake) are that it was not a bunch sprint where there could have been an overlooked incident or mitigating circumstances explaining a deviation. Everything was focused on just those 2, Schreiber was riding beautifully balanced which made her sudden deviation look unnatural stroke as if it could have been in some part intentional whilst she was slowly drifting ever closer towards the barrier to a point that would have reached obstruction level. In her defence, it might have been the realisation she was heading towards that that made her react suddenly and caused the deviation involuntarily. In any case, congratulations to her for the ride of her life, in people’s minds she will be credited for it.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Good boy Obviously doesn’t need that much help dealing with pressure, as some have suggested. Wiser (and humbler) than many far further along their careers. About offering him the moon, recently someone came up with an explanation of the downfall of a football great (either referring to Maradona or Portuguese Ronaldo) saying it was kind of normal after coming back from the moon, except that others, including some who actually did go to the moon like Armstrong (Neil in case anyone is too switched off to realise) didn’t go through any of the same motions after coming back. A lot of how you deal with situations has less to do with the situation than with your character.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- I think that they're not really used to dealing with this type of incident in a cyclocross race, and the situation has been magnified because it was a race for a championship title. It's very unfortunate that the race had to be decided in this way.
santiagobenites07-11-2026 - Seriously why do they keep doing stupid things like this. Its one thing to relegate when the placings are minor, when the action is blatant. But when it is ambiguous, why dont they at least take advice from some higher up to avoid embarrassing themselves. This is similar to the Halland goal when his teammate was clearly offside and interfered in play and VAR gave them the goal. if you dont have evidence you cannot convict. Even for doping they have these rulesabstractengineer07-11-2026
- So all those who went to watch, including all from abroad, waled there, spent nothing? Most places hosting events of the sort manage to make it worthwhile. If it was so obviously fruitless, don’t you think by now they’d have run out of hosting candidates? Why do you think the Tour can command such high prices for departure and arrival locations? If it didn’t bring anything locally they’d have to pay to get authorisation to use cities.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- What a travesty ! That little deviation did nothing to impede Brand !frieders307-11-2026
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