Quinn Simmons spices up World Championships preparation with a mountain bike racing return after seven (!) years
Mountain Bike
Quinn Simmons rode a fantastic 2026 Tour de France where he secured a final top-20. But more importantly, he played a vital role in supporting his leaders; either Mads Pedersen on his brekaway endeavours, or Mattias Skjelmose and Juan Ayuso in the mountains. Now, while he enjoys some well-deserved rest, the American will make a brief return to his old love - mountain bikes.
Deservedly, the 25-year-old was awarded the best domestique of the race, for the second time in his career.
But many years back, before Simmons asserted himself as the most dominant junior cyclist of his age group, the American participated in the 2019 edition of Leadville 100 MTB, a mountain bike race in his home state of Colorado.
Although he failed to triumph back then, to beat seasoned professionals such as Lachlan Morton and Peter Stetina was a tremendous feat.
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And this Saturday, the 'Captain America' returns to the scene. This time, he'll be among the main favourites - even though he has not race a mountain bike race since.
But the victory won't come around easy - he will compete against former pros Michael Woods and Chad Haga, among others. And marathon mountain bike world champion Keegan Swenson aims for his sixth consecutive title!

Quinn Simmons in 2026
As for Simmons' further plans for 2026, not much is known at the moment. Logically, we should expect the American champion to continue with a programme in North America, taking part in reborn Philadelphia Cycling Class (1.1), and then moving over to Canada for Grand Prix of Quebec and Montreal in anticipation of World Championships in the latter location.
The Lidl-Trek rider enjoyed another busy Tour, standing on the top spot of the podium in Paris as winner of the top domestique award. In 2025, 'Captain America' was already awarded with the top domestique award, and this time around his work was once again not unnoticed.
Simmons has achieved this due to the work provided for his team. In the end, he contributed to the victory in the teams' classification, the green jersey conquered by Mads Pedersen; as well as the Top10 results of Mattias Skjelmose and Juan Ayuso.

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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- You despise him because he calls out the truth....OK clown !frieders303-11-2026
- JV is really slighting himself with not doing the 1 dayers.. 🤷
leedorney02-11-2026 - Watch the interview on youtube. I don't speak French. I do speak English and Spanish and you can hear it in his voice. Years ago LeMond had real personal problems I imagine in no small part because of Armstrong. then Armstrong goes round "full blast" re: LeMond having drinking and drug problems. The same way Andreu was expelled from mainstream cycling so was LeMond. On the positive side the clips of the ride and chatting with old teammates and was good. To seemed like a fun day and experience and good reason brush up his French.atom02-11-2026
- and another no-news article around the ‚2 tokyo jogging rounds‘ headline, this time spiced with some days old ‚news‘ that the LA and japan vacation trips come during or after the tdf route release. i am getting more and more annoyed by this time-stealing no-news crap. but who am i to complain? nobody forces me to come back for more ‚news‘ day after day …Ketterechts02-11-2026
- It would likely be a very steep section of 4.1 km, not changing the average gradient considerably, with the climb remaining 10.1 km at 11.8%. It would reach 20% on the gravel. It would start 1.6 km in, and finish with 4.2 km left to climb (before the short final descent)
Rafionain-Glas02-11-2026 - Welcome to the off-season.
santiagobenites02-11-2026 - guillaume martin in this list is quite a surprise as a gc rider.Ketterechts02-11-2026
- Who cares what Bruyneel thinks. He and his best mate Lance, the biggest fraud in the history of sport, have no place commenting on anything but how to lie and cheat!whit2pet02-11-2026
- Eeesh!Lozza02-11-2026
- bravo! a rider likes jonas needs motivation and he needs to believe in being able to reach goals. he - like anybody else in the world - doesn't believe that he can win the tdf with pogi present. and what's it worth for when pogi is not there? second class victory only. he has checked all three grand tours, so what is left if not retire? the classics! go for it, jonas!Ketterechts02-11-2026
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