diff --git a/internal/runner/benchmark.go b/internal/runner/benchmark.go
index 1c9f115..a8d747a 100644
--- a/internal/runner/benchmark.go
+++ b/internal/runner/benchmark.go
@@ -929,11 +929,11 @@ func isRetriableHuggingFaceRowsStatus(statusCode int) bool {
 func huggingFaceRowsBackoff(attempt int, headers http.Header) time.Duration {
 	if retryAfter := headers.Get("Retry-After"); retryAfter != "" {
 		if seconds, err := strconv.Atoi(retryAfter); err == nil && seconds >= 0 {
-			return time.Duration(seconds) * time.Second
+			return min(time.Duration(seconds)*time.Second, 30*time.Second)
 		}
 		if retryAt, err := http.ParseTime(retryAfter); err == nil {
 			if delay := time.Until(retryAt); delay > 0 {
-				return delay
+				return min(delay, 30*time.Second)
 			}
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/internal/runner/submission_test.go b/internal/runner/submission_test.go
index 089e2d4..0c395f8 100644
--- a/internal/runner/submission_test.go
+++ b/internal/runner/submission_test.go
@@ -270,6 +270,19 @@ func TestHuggingFaceBenchmarkClientHonorsCancelDuringRetryBackoff(t *testing.T)
 	}
 }
 
+func TestHuggingFaceRowsBackoffCapsRetryAfter(t *testing.T) {
+	got := huggingFaceRowsBackoff(1, http.Header{"Retry-After": []string{"3600"}})
+	if got != 30*time.Second {
+		t.Fatalf("Retry-After 3600 = %s, want 30s", got)
+	}
+
+	future := time.Now().UTC().Add(2 * time.Hour).Format(http.TimeFormat)
+	got = huggingFaceRowsBackoff(1, http.Header{"Retry-After": []string{future}})
+	if got != 30*time.Second {
+		t.Fatalf("Retry-After HTTP-date %q = %s, want 30s", future, got)
+	}
+}
+
 func withHuggingFaceRowsRetryDelay(t *testing.T, delay time.Duration) {
 	t.Helper()
 	previous := huggingFaceRowsRetryDelay