The Japan Cup at the weekend allowed Quinn Simmons to round out his 2026 season in style with a win, and while it will have scratched a bit of an itch, it won’t leave him completely satisfied as he aims to find “that final piece” of the puzzle that unlocks the biggest victories and titles.
Simmons, 25, has just completed his seventh season as a professional since jumping straight from the junior ranks to the WorldTour following his storming junior world title in 2023. He won a stage of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, then kept the Stars and Stripes of the US national champion’s jersey on his back for another year, and gave it a good airing at the Tour de France via a series of breakaway rides.
More recently, he has put together a strong late-season one-day campaign that included playing a key role in Brandon McNulty’s World Championship road race title, finishing fourth himself in Montreal.
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And yet, Simmons suggests he has fallen short of the high standards he sets himself, and that he still has work to do to land the very biggest wins of which he clearly feels he is capable.
"It's been good, but I've also, I mean, I've missed my two biggest objectives, so, you know, there's some disappointment there," Simmons said at the recent Il Lombardia.
"But of course, I have to be happy with the way I rode," he added. “I think I took a step up from last year, even though I haven't won a lot, I've shown that I'm at least in the game for the big races.
"And, you know, I just missed that final piece. You know, it's better to be in this position than to be completely out of the fight, so I can at least be happy that I've been in the fight."
Asked what that final piece might be, he replied: "I mean, if I knew what it is, I would have done it already.
"I’ve been quite close for a number of years at a lot of big races, but I just haven't quite done it. I still believe I can figure it out, but maybe I don't, and maybe I never reach that top level, but at least I'm still trying, and I still believe in it."
Simmons, already looking ahead to 2027, is fixated on the Tour de France and trying to finally win a stage there. That, along with an elite world title to go with his junior one, are the two big objectives of his career, but he acknowledges the latter will have to be put on hold given the mountainous severity of next year’s Worlds in the French Alps.
"The Worlds, I think, is too hard for anyone my size, so I don't think it's reasonable to think there, but yeah, for sure, my eyes are already on the Tour.
"The biggest objective every year will be the Tour. For an American rider, that's where the sport matters the most."
Simmons was one of the most active riders in this year’s Tour, and while he was voted as the best teammate, he did express a sense of unease at having to dilute his own chances in favour of the team’s chief stage hunter and eventual green jersey winner, Mads Pedersen.
"The Tour, for me, was super fun. Like last year, I did a similar Tour, but then this year I came even a few per cent better, and I think my performance showed that," he said.
"Of course, for me, I wanted the stage, but, you know, I have to be happy with the way I was riding.
"If I keep building like this, next year can be even better."
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