Brandon McNulty crossed the finish line alone in Montréal. But behind him, Team USA had spent the day making sure he would not have to win the world championship on his own.

There were teammates to launch attacks, teammates to cover the response and teammates still finding their way back into contention when the race seemed to have exhausted everyone. For sports director Michael Creed, the plan had been simple enough: "Numbers, numbers, numbers."

McNulty's victory delivered the United States its first elite men's road world title since 1993. It was an upset for the favourites, but Creed was careful about what that said about his team. Asked whether the Americans had been underdogs, he rejected the description.

"I don't think we were the underdog. I think we were about on par," he said.

Underestimated, though? That drew an unequivocal yes.

"But that's fine," Creed said. "That's a privileged place to be. There's no better zone to be than underestimated and have the fitness to prove people wrong."

Team USA had come to Montréal with one of the strongest teams it had fielded in decades.

It lined up with three protected leaders – WorldTour riders McNulty, Quinn Simmons and Matteo Jorgenson – and five experienced domestiques also all from the top tier of the sport: Kevin Vermaerke (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Sean Quinn (EF Education-EasyPost), Artem Shmidt (Netcompany INEOS), Larry Warbasse (Tudor Pro Cycling) and Riley Sheehan (NSN Cycling).

"We all know that we're very capable riders and capable of winning on any given day. If we do everything perfect, we have a good shot at a medal," McNulty had said before the race.

Creed had paired that talent with a strategy built around keeping enough of them in contention to give the team options deep into the race.

In the team meeting, Creed had given them a specific target: always account for more than 10 per cent of the lead group.

"We're going to win by numbers," he said.

That ambition depended on something no sports director can guarantee.

"You don't expect everyone to have good legs on the same day, and everyone had great legs [today]," Creed said. "I'm sure if it came back, Matteo could've won."

In the press conference with the rainbow jersey and gold medal draped over his neck and shoulders, McNulty recounted how the team's numbers led to the winning move.

Simmons had been out front first, allowing McNulty and Jorgenson to play off his presence ahead. When the race came back together, McNulty took his opportunity.

"When it came together, I chose the moment to go," he said. "I know they were both just closing every move behind, and making sure the group is constantly starting and stopping, which favours a rider ahead."

That was the value of having several potential winners. With McNulty up the road, Jorgenson and Simmons could follow attacks without helping the chase. Every acceleration their rivals made risked bringing another strong American closer to the front.

And even deep into the finale, the U.S. numbers kept replenishing. Creed could scarcely believe it when Quinn Simmons returned on the last lap.

"How the hell did he come back?"

It was another American body in a race where each one mattered. As Creed described it, the climbs left riders too exhausted to commit fully to the chase. The effort required to bring McNulty closer also made it harder to finish the job.

"They go so hard on the climbs that everyone's gassed and no one can commit," he said.

Still, in the team car, Creed's nerves were anything but settled.

"That was a rollercoaster in the van," Creed said.

McNulty's smooth style made him difficult to read, but the speed felt wrong. The gap eventually fell to just 10 seconds. What had looked like a winning margin was suddenly almost gone.

McNulty was living the same uncertainty from the other side of the windscreen. Familiarity with the circuit had given him confidence in how to race it, but also an uncomfortable knowledge of how much road remained after the final corner.

"I knew they were coming close, and then the gap would grow, and then I know how long the last 500 meters are," he said.

He only accepted that he would win with 50 metres remaining. Around an hour later, at the press conference, he was still struggling to believe it.

"I didn't really think the jersey was something that could genuinely happen," he said. "It was my dream, my big hope."

For Riley Sheehan, that commitment had roots far beyond a national-team meeting.

"We've all raced with each other since juniors. We all know each other so well," he said. "We've all put everything into it, and it's incredible to have a guy like Brandon win. I couldn't be more happy."

They spent most of the season riding for different trade teams. Here, their familiarity helped turn a group of individual talents into a team willing to work for whichever rider could deliver the jersey.

McNulty described a connection that extended to the people behind the team. He had entered the USA Cycling programme at 15 or 16 and grown up around staff who were still involved. He and Simmons had won junior world titles, but the elite men's road race remained the prize everyone wanted.

"It's super special to do it with people that I've known since I was really a kid," McNulty said.

Sheehan's assignment was to support the trio of leaders, help set up Simmons' initial move and stay useful for as long as his legs allowed.

Sheehan has initially been left out of the team selection – an omission that had not passed quietly. He took to social media and spoke to our sister site, Cyclingnews, that he was disappointed and confused, as he believed he "could have been a really vital asset" to the American team. When Neilson Powless withdrew due to illness, Sheehan got his call-up after all.

When asked about this turn of events, Sheehan said a world championship in North America felt almost like a home race, and the course was one he wanted to race.

"I saw that we have a winning team," he said. "I wanted to be a part of this, and I know I can make a dent in it and support the guys."

His conviction was rewarded with a teammate in the rainbow jersey and all three protected leaders in the top 10: McNulty first, Simmons fourth and Jorgenson eighth.

For McNulty, those results proved that team's strategy had worked.

"If I go solo and there are two guys that are that strong, they're going to mark moves, and it's going to make it work," he said. "Really incredible from all three of us and the whole team, all eight of us."

For Creed, being underestimated had offered a freedom he knew would be harder to find after a performance like this.

"It's such an amazing position because everything is so much harder afterwards," he said.

The next time this group lines up together, its rivals will have a reason to count the American jerseys as carefully as Creed did.

With less than half a lap remaining, Summer McNulty, née Moak, snuck into the media tent alongside the finish line of the UCI Road World Championships in Montréal to see how her husband was doing.

Brandon McNulty was alone out front. There was a gap, but a small one. Behind him came the might of Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands), Michael Matthews (Australia), Mads Pedersen (Denmark), Isaac del Toro (Mexico), Tom Pidcock (Great Britain) and others.

"I'm so stressed out right now," Summer told Cycling Weekly.

Could he do it?

"I mean I hope so but I'm not going to say anything till it's finished. I'm freaking out but I hope he can do it. He deserves it."

Minutes later, McNulty soloed across the line, took a hard right towards the barriers and fell into Summer's arms.

That sentiment – that McNulty deserved it – kept coming. His American teammate Riley Sheehan said it, as did USA Cycling sports director Michael Creed. And trade teammate Tadej Pogačar, who had worn the rainbow stripes for the previous two years, took to social media to call him a king.

It is not every day that a domestique gets crowned as world champion.

"Maybe Tadej will have to ride for me a few days," McNulty joked after the race when a journalist remarked on Pogačar post.

Every domestique has his day

Since joining UAE Emirates XRG in 2020, McNulty has combined the demands of riding for the most formidable talent of his generation with the occasional opportunity of his own.

As a key domestique in the mountain stages, McNulty has helped Pogačar win three editions of the Tour de France, as well as one-day races like Milan-San Remo.

But his own results have long made clear what he can do when the opportunity comes: a Giro d'Italia stage in 2023, a Vuelta a España stage in 2024, the overall victory at the Tour de Pologne in 2025, and, notably, the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal in 2025 on the very roads where he claimed his world title today.

At that Montréal finish in 2025, Pogačar was beside him, the two celebrating together as McNulty crossed first. On Sunday, the American arrived alone.

We knew he was in form. At GP de Montréal earlier this month, McNulty placed third. Then, in the time trial last Sunday, he had been just 12 seconds off from a medal.

Speaking to Cycling Weekly earlier this week, he said: "I think there's a chance. If we do everything perfect, we have a good shot at a medal."

Still, much of the pre-race attention on a potential successor from within the UAE-Emirates XRG team had centred on Isaac del Toro. The young Mexican had won this year's GP Montréal and featured prominently among the favourites for the world title. But perhaps they'd been looking at the wrong UAE teammate.

A Team Victory

While not the all-out favourites, the Americans, as a unit, arrived as a strong contender. Van der Poel said he was watching out for them, as did Evenepoel. The question was which American rider to mark.

Team USA lined up with three protected riders: McNulty, Quinn Simmons and Matteo Jorgenson. Their strength gave them options, and they used them.

Simmons went ahead first. Jorgenson attacked later. When the contenders came back together, McNulty seized his moment, going clear with around 33km remaining.

Once McNulty was away, his teammates kept responding to the pursuit.

"I know they were both just closing every move behind," McNulty said with complete trust.

But for all the tactical advantages, there was still a brutal effort to finish.

"I've never been so empty,” McNulty said.

Meanwhile, in the media tent, Summer understood both the opportunity and the uncertainty.

A former junior national champion on the road and record holder on the track, she knew what it meant to reach the closing stages with a chance of winning.

She also knew what Montréal meant to her husband.

"He's feeling good. He's always happy on this course. I think that gives him a little bit of extra confidence."

McNulty confirmed afterwards that familiarity had helped. He had learned how to race these roads over successive visits. But knowing the course also meant knowing how much remained after the final corner.

"I knew they were coming close, and then the gap would grow," he said. "I know how long the last 500 meters are from the last corner."

He couldn’t believe it was won until roughly 50 metres remained.

Only then could he accept what was happening. Matthews would take silver, Van der Poel bronze. McNulty would become the first American elite men's road world champion since 1993.

Even in the press conference, the result had not quite sunk in.

"Has it been an hour now?" he asked. "I really don't believe it."

McNulty had spent much of his cycling life working towards this moment alongside people in the American programme who had known him since he was a teenager.

"The men's world road race has always been the dream for everyone in the organisation," he said. "It's super special to do it with people that I've known since I was really a kid."

He had fulfilled that ambition in Team USA colours.

In the coming week, McNulty will swap the red, white and blue for a rainbow-striped UAE kit as he's scheduled to line up at the Giro dell’Emilia on October 3.

Whether he will actually get to race for his chances on a team that holds two of the biggest talents in the peloton has yet to be seen, but for now he’ll enjoy wearing the rainbows.

"I hope I made [Tadej Pogacar] proud by keeping the jersey in the team," McNulty said of Pogačar. "I hope he enjoyed watching."

The answer was already there on social media.

"The King of Montreal 👑 Proud of you @brandon_mcnulty 🌈🥹" Pogacar penned.

Brandon McNulty claimed his first World Championship and the biggest win of his career in Montréal this afternoon.

In an unpredictable and attritional race the American timed his move to perfection, attacking with 33km left to race and, despite clearly struggling to maintain power in the final stages, held on to take the rainbow jersey.

McNulty is the first American to win the World Championship road race in 33 years. The last American to wear the rainbow jersey was Lance Armstrong who won in 1993 in Oslo.

The 28 year-old from Phoenix had not entered the race as one of the favourites but newly crowned time trial World Champion Remco Evenepoel, aggressive-riding Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel and young Mexican Isaac del Toro all rode strongly but ultimately came up short.

At the finish McNulty said he was “lost for words”. He said: “The last lap I was in zone two I was just dying but I kept pushing.”

He added he had joked with his wife this morning about winning. He said: “I knew something could happen but it’d take a miracle and today, I guess, miracles do happen.”

The American team used their strength in Montréal well and were present at the front of the race throughout first with Quinn Simmons, then Matteo Jorgenson, and finally McNulty.

Behind McNulty the closing stages were marked by the chasers trying to escape and claim the remaining medals but it came to a sprint with Michael Matthews taking silver and Mathieu van der Poel taking bronze.

The race in Montreal had been a chaotic affair. Soon after the flag dropped a group of 17 riders went clear. The biggest name among them was Biniam Girmay from Eritrea, but the sprinter was, rightly, not considered a serious threat for the win on the hill course.

With 106km to go the remains of the break was finally caught, thanks mostly from the pressing of Frenchman Bruno Armirail, he was distanced once the junction was made.

A few kilometres later France forced a split in the peloton drawing away a group that by the top of the climb numbered 11 riders. It was made up of Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel, Brit Oscar Onley, Irishman Ben Healy, Belgian Maxim van Gils, Frenchman Alex Baudin, Norwegian Jørgen Nordhagen, Colombian Santiago Buitrago, Danes Anthon Charmig and Andreas Kron and Italians Christian Scaroni and Giulio Pellizzari.

But eventually it was shut down and with 87km to go Wout van Aert went on the offensive. His move was covered by Van de Poel and Onley.

The leading trio were soon joined by Charmig and Primož Roglič of Slovenia and Quinn Simmons from the USA.

As they crossed the finish line with six laps to go they had a gap of 40 seconds.

As the climb approached Tom Pidcock, among the outside contenders for the win, was seen making his way back to the back of the peloton after suffering a crash. It was bad timing as the pace was high.

On the climb Isaac del Toro came to the front and slashed the break’s advantage to 15 seconds, dropping much of the peloton, including Pidcock, in the process.

Perhaps sensing the vulnerability, van der Poel attacked the front group. Simmons and Onley responded and with 73km to go the three were alone at the front of the race.

The third group on the road, containing pre-race favourite Remco Evenepoel and del Toro, was now 27 seconds behind the leaders. The trio of van Aert, Charmig and Roglič were halfway between them.

The following laps were marked by attack and counter attack from the groups behind the leaders.

With three laps to go all the groups could see each other in the finishing straight. And up the main climb Irishman Ben Healy, who had been busy animating the race, joined the front and on the descent the chase group finally came across. The USA’s Matteo Jorgenson immediately attack and took Giulio Ciccone and Pidcock with him.

They were brought to heel but no sooner had the group reformed than Brandon McNulty launched and swiftly built a buffer of 30 seconds.

As co-operation proved elusive in the chase with attacks and counter attacks McNulty’s advantage spiralled out to nearly a minute.

The final ascent of the main climb of the circuit saw Ciccone and Pidcock accelerate off the front in a bid to claim the remaining medals behind McNulty but they couldn’t build much of a gap.

McNulty was fading now but never let the chase get within 10 seconds of his rear wheel

At the finish, as McNulty looked over his shoulder, they sprinted behind and Michael Matthews came out on top ahead of Mathieu van der Poel.

Results

UCI Road World Championships 2026, men’s Elite Road Race: Brossard > Montréal (273km)

1. Brandon McNulty, United States in 6:17:04
2. Michael Matthews, Australia, +13s
3. Mathieu van der Poel, Netherlands
4. Quinn Simmons, United States, all at same time
5. Isaac del Toro, Mexico, +14s
6. Mads Pedersen, Denmark
7. Tom Pidcock, Great Britain
8. Matteo Jorgenson, United States
9. Giulio Ciccone, Italy
10. Ben Healy, Ireland, all at same time

Demi Vollering’s rainbow jersey came with an unwelcome addition: a hefty CHF 1,000 ($ 1,200 USD / £911 GBP) fine, a 25-point deduction in the UCI rankings and a yellow card.

The post-race commissaires’ communiqué states that the Dutch rider had been penalised for "using a non-compliant position or point of support on the bicycle" during the women’s elite road race.

The ruling cited article 2.12.007.9 of the UCI regulations, which prohibits riding positions or points of support on the bicycle that breach the rules and pose a danger to the rider or other competitors.

In plain terms, the rule penalises riders for adopting prohibited positions that could compromise control of their bike. Well-known examples include "puppy paws", where riders rest their forearms on the handlebars to reduce wind resistance, and the "super tuck", where they sit on the top tube rather than the saddle. Both are banned in road races and yield immediate disqualifications. The communiqué did not specify which position Vollering used or when in the race the infraction occurred.

When Cycling Weekly asked a representative of the Dutch team to clarify, they were as confused as everyone else and promised to find out what exact position led to such a hefty fine.

Fortunately for Vollering, the race results remain unaffected, and while she received a point deduction, her UCI ranking will largely be unaffected also. Prior to the World Championships race, the Dutchwoman led the published standings by more than 3,300 points, so the 25-point sanction will only make a minor dent.

This is not the first time the Dutchwoman made headlines for a fine. At the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift in August, Vollering and her FDJ-Suez United teammates were fined for urinating in public. That fine, however, was significantly less expensive at 100 CHF per rider.

Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney had given everything. Demi Vollering still had the rainbow jersey. The silver medallist's first reaction?

"It wasn't 'oh yay, silver!'," the Pole said dripping with sarcasm. "It's like 'Fuuudddgeee'"

In the final 50 metres up the Avenue du Parc, she was empty, her leg had cramped, and she could not finish her sprint as she had wanted.

Demi Vollering had won the rainbow jersey, and while Niewiadoma could accept that she had been beaten, that acceptance came with a promise.

"It just means that I will now come home and work harder to beat her next time," she said.

This rivalry between Vollering and Niewiadoma-Phinney has been growing with each season. In 2023, Vollering passed Niewiadoma on the Tourmalet on her way to winning the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift; later that year, Niewiadoma took the gravel world title with Vollering finishing in third. In 2024, the Pole beat her on the Mur de Huy to win Flèche Wallone, then held her off by just four seconds to win the Tour de France Femmes.

This August, Vollering turned the tables, reclaiming yellow with Niewiadoma in second. The tension of that contest gave their rivalry an edge, but in Montréal both described a respect rooted in knowing how hard the other makes them work.

"In the end, your greatest competitors are also your greatest motivation," Vollering said. "When Kasia is chasing me, then next time you're like, 'I need to train harder.'"

Niewiadoma shared that in the lead up to the World Championships, she was revisiting all their head-to-heads.

"I was reminding myself in the last four or five weeks when preparing for today that once I beat Demi and I won the world champion jersey, so why not do it again?," she said of the times she came out ahead.

At this level, she explained, belief can determine whether a rider makes use of the strength she has. The opponent who creates the doubt can also provide the evidence needed to overcome it.

"Maybe [in the Tour de France Femmes] I cracked slightly mentally," she said. Confidence was fleeting, she explained. "You constantly have to work for it."

The Worlds offered an opportunity to put that lesson into practice. She wanted to reach the finish knowing she had used everything available to her. And she did. She had left it all out there.

She could take satisfaction in the racing they had produced. She called it one of the hardest races they had done, and was proud that it had shown women's cycling so well.

"You accept the fact that somebody was faster, stronger than you, and once you gave your absolute best, there are no what-ifs, and then it's kind of just easier to move on," she said.

Just metres past the finish line, Niewiadoma-Phinney was among the first to congratulate Vollering. When asked about this moment in the press conference later, Vollering said she would have done the same if the roles had been reversed.

"If Kasia would be world champion here, I also think it's very deserved," she said.

Vollering won the day's contest, but both leave Montréal wanting the same thing: to beat the other next time. Their mutual respect only sharpens that ambition. For everyone watching, the next encounter cannot come soon enough.

Only Demi Vollering will wear the rainbow jersey, but the new world champion was clear about how many riders it took to win it. Her breakthrough in Montréal belonged to an entire Dutch team that committed its strength and ambitions to getting her across the line first.

Puck Pieterse's devastating acceleration that contributed to Vollering's first solo attack was perhaps the most visible effort, but every Dutch woman played her role. Before Pieterse's attack, the Dutch spent long hours controlling the race, making adjustments when their carefully prepared formation was disrupted, and showing a collective willingness to keep working toward the same end goal.

"It's my biggest victory of my career," Vollering said, in no small part because of how the team had raced.

For Vollering, her teammates' commitment to go all in for her carried both reassurance and an enormous responsibility.

"You [race the world championships] with teammates who normally are your competitors," she said in the post-race press conference. "So it's hard to make a team work like they worked today. For that, I'm so thankful. I'm forever thankful for them for all their hard work."

Vollering ultimately secured her first elite road world title by outsprinting long-time rival Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Poland). Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy) completed the podium.

Rich in talented riders, the Dutch are always a dominant force at the world championships. They have won five of the past 10 women's world road race titles, but their strength in numbers has sometimes been undermined by disjointed teamwork.

This year, the orange team lined up with one clear leader and six carefully selected riders to race in her service.

"In the past I have said it more often: that if you want to win a race with me, then we need to do it this way," Vollering said, about the solo leader tactic.

"To set a team in front of me and really sacrifice every team member to also make the race very hard and stay in control. And that's what we did today. It really took all the effort from every single team member to get to this point."

That clarity had been established months before the start, with national coach Laurens ten Dam building the selection specifically and explicitly around Vollering.

Before the race, Vollering revealed that a lot of conversations took place between Ten Dam and his riders to secure the riders' unwavering commitment. Vollering, in turn, welcomed the responsibility of being the sole leader, believing it could bring out the best in her.

Still, it was a considerable thing to ask of riders who could have had a chance at a medal themselves.

"It takes guts to ask this from a team," Vollering said. "I take a lot of strong Dutch girls with me, they all sacrifice their own chances for me, and then I will finish it off for you. But you don't know if you can finish it off.

"It's very hard to say that as well, to say, ‘OK girls, you need to work very hard for me, and then I will take the jersey for you.' But there is also a chance I cannot do it."

Her willingness to make that request, and to accept the uncertainty attached to it, was part of what she felt had changed.

Year by year, Vollering explained, she had become better at coping with and accepting the pressure that comes with being one of the top cyclists in the world. She trained her mind, learned how to control her emotions and, just as importantly, learned to tell the people around her what she needed.

She could ask for complete commitment of her team without treating the possibility of defeat as something unbearable.

"I can stay calm in the race and know that if it will not work out, the world will not end," she said. "In the past maybe it would feel like this as well, but now I also know that it's not like this."

The Dutch put that trust into practice throughout the race. Lieke Nooijen and Amber Kraak helped manage the early breakaway. Later, when Femke de Vries' crash disrupted the intended lead-out, Riejanne Markus took on responsibilities. Karlijn Swinkels set the pace before Pieterse delivered the acceleration on Camillien-Houde that blew up the front group with three laps remaining.

"The effort had to be as long as possible. So I just went full gas there," Pieterse said after finishing in sixth place.

"When Demi eventually went, I looked behind and there was actually nobody on my wheel anymore. I thought, well, that was hard enough."

Vollering used Pieterse as a springboard and went clear with some 32 kilometres remaining, catching and passing lone leader Maeva Squiban (France). But Niewiadoma-Phinney and Longo Borghini gave chase and eventually reached Vollering with approximately 15km remaining.

The solo victory the Dutch had worked to create was gone. But Vollering had prepared for that, too.

"I have seen every single scenario coming by in my head," she said. "I've visualised this race a million hours, it feels like.

"The first scenario was to do an attack and stay out solo. That was, of course, the most ideal one. But then Plan B was, if they come back, that you switch as soon as possible to another scenario."

Longo Borghini's attack at the start of the final lap forced another response. Vollering caught her on the last ascent of Camillien-Houde, with Niewiadoma-Phinney following, before the Italian fell away.

"If she stays out over the top of this climb, then we have a problem," Vollering recalled thinking. "I knew I just had to pace this climb as hard as I could and catch her back before the top.

"You don't know what you can still do and what the others can still do. It was a nervous moment as well."

Behind her, Pieterse had reached her own limit. She had tried to disrupt the chase after dropping back from her lead-out, but could no longer follow when the strongest pursuers went across.

Even then, she trusted Vollering to finish the job.

"Demi has a really good sprint as well," Pieterse said. "I trusted that, if they came back, they would all be completely exhausted and she would still be the strongest."

That belief mattered to Vollering. The work already done on her behalf gave her another reason to persist through the uncertainty.

"It really helped to have a team who worked so hard the whole day for you," she said. "You have all the weight on your shoulders to finish it off as well."

Afterwards, she described the title as probably the biggest victory of her career, in part because bringing together riders who ordinarily compete against one another makes a World Championships so difficult to win.

"There were so many years that I also tried so hard and it didn't work out, and you're devastated as well," Vollering said.

"But this year it's finally worked out for me. I'm so incredibly proud to have delivered here and wear this beautiful jersey."

A major crash marred the women's elite road race at the UCI World Championships in Montréal on Saturday, sending at least two riders to hospital and forcing several medal contenders to abandon.

Around 15 riders came down hard with approximately 95 kilometres remaining on a downhill stretch along Rue Saint-Urbain. The pile-up split the peloton and left several riders requiring medical attention.

Australia's Lauretta Hanson was taken to hospital on a stretcher and in a neckbrace for observation, according to Australian media. Details of her injuries have yet to be confirmed.

Sweden's Caroline Andersson received roadside medical attention before she, too, was transported to hospital. A statement by the Swedish Cycling Federation later revealed that she had suffered a broken collarbone and will have to undergo surgery, with her only other injury being some road rash on her hip. She is communicating with the doctors and has her parents with her at the hospital, along with a team doctor.

Sweden's Julia Borgström stopped to help Andersson before withdrawing in tears. Backteman said Borgström was physically okay but shaken by what had happened.

Others got up and remounted their bikes with torn kit and bloodied skin, attempting to salvage their races. Defending champion Magdeleine Vallières initially continued, but both she and Spain's Paula Blasi ultimately abandoned, removing two leading medal contenders from the race.

While the crash happened long before the decisive final laps, there is no doubt it reshaped the contest. Along with the withdrawals, a lot of riders got caught up behind the disruption and were now forced to chase including Australia's Sarah Gigante, USA's Kate Courtney and Mauritius's Kim Le Court-Pienaar.

For Vallières, the crash brought an emotional end to her title defence on home roads. Tears ran down her face as she climbed back onto her bike and continued around the circuit. With visible wounds to her leg and hand, she completed the lap before a deafening crowd welcomed her up the finishing straight, where she abandoned.

Blasi described road rash but little pain after withdrawing and criticised the risks being taken in the bunch. "When the race entered the circuit, it was crazy," she said, according to our sister site, Cyclingnews. "People were taking too many risks."

Cycling Weekly will report on the outcome and further medical updates as they become available.

At Friday evening's press conference with Dutch-speaking media, the Belgian team revealed plans to use bottle handups as a communications channel at the UCI Road World Championships.

Already tested with the Belgian under-23 squad, the system involves sticking written notes onto bottles handed to riders in the feed zone. With race radios banned, this gives Sport Directors a way to relay race updates, such as breakaway gaps, the composition of groups up the road and instructions on when to chase or attack.

Belgium will continue using roadside white boards as well, with the bottles providing another way to get information into the bunch.

"It's no genius invention. It's existed for a long time. But I've never raced like that. For me it'll be new," said Wout van Aert.

Van Aert has been outspoken about his dislike of racing without radios, and explained that riders cannot always get back to the team car for information. As such, he welcomed anything that could improve his understanding of the race.

In a peloton of around 180 riders, he explained, it is impossible to see exactly who is ahead, how much time they have or who has been dropped.

The experiment comes with potential downsides, however. A message only works if the intended rider collects the bottle.

"If you miss a bottle and there's an important message on it, you haven't seen it," said Remco Evenepoel, who believe sthe tactic still needs some fine-tuning.

Secrecy presents another complication. A bottle carrying a message reportedly reached a cameraman during the under-23 race, which led to Van Aert joking about the team needing a secret code.

Come Sunday, the Belgians have 12 laps of the Montréal circuit to perfect their bottle-hand-up tactic.

Belgium is lining up with Evenepoel and Van Aert as co-leaders, giving the team options but also a potential challenge. Evenepoel can attack from distance, while Van Aert provides a formidable option if a small group reaches the finish together. But the question is whether Belgium can make those strengths work together or if the two leaders will divide the team.

Pauwels believes that the race circumstances will determine which leader takes precedence.

Sunday's elite men's road race covers 273.7 kilometres with 3,803 metres of elevation gain, starting in Brossard before reaching the Montréal circuits. The race starts at 9 a.m. EDT / 3:00 p.m. CEST.

The 2026 UCI Road World Championships week is coming to a close in Montréal, and all eyes are on the elite road races this weekend. A brutally attritional course awaits, and Tadej Pogačar is out of contention for the men's race. Suddenly, the race predictions look considerably harder to call.

Pundits, riders, fans and bookmakers all have their picks. We asked AI to weigh in and provide its predictions, along with the bookmaker odds.

The predictions are ChatGPT's picks for who will win and join them on the podium. But the percentages translate bookmakers’ betting prices into an implied chance of winning. The two numbers don’t always agree. For example, AI narrowly chose Del Toro for the men’s road race, while the bookmaker’s favourite is Evenepoel.

AI's predictions for the elite time trials were spot on, but then again, Marlen Reusser and Remco Evenepoel, both defending champions, were the all-out favourites. Betting against them would have been a risk. Will it be correct about the road races, too?

*Odds sources include bwin, BetUS, The and Sports Geek.

Women’s elite road race: another Vollering–Niewiadoma showdown?

The Race:

The 180.4km route includes eight laps of Montréal's 13.4km Mount Royal circuit and a total of 2,570 metres of climbing.

What AI predicts:

In its predictions, AI reproduced the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift podium, favouring Dutch rider Demi Vollering's attacking strength over Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Poland) and Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy). Its concern was a less selective finale.

"If [Belgian's Lotte Kopecky] survives the final climbs with the leaders, the finishing-speed balance changes sharply in her favour," AI said of Belgian Lotte Kopecky.

Our race favourites:

Even after pre-riding the course myself, I'm finding it difficult to make definitive predictions. Yet it would be silly to bet against Demi Vollering. The Dutch woman is the top favourite, with the results to back it up. This season, she not only won both Grand Tours she entered but dominated in the spring as well, winning Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, the Tour of Flanders, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and La Flèche Wallonne.

Undulating and attritional, this course certainly suits someone who excels in punchy Ardennes Classics races, and that includes Vollering. She's also lining up with a strong Dutch squad who are "all in" for Vollering, so it would be quite a surprise if she does not end up in the medals.

In the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift in August, Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney was Vollering's main rival. But historically, the Polish rider hasn't had the best luck at the World Championships.

She won bronze in Leuven in 2021, but since then, her best result was a 10th-place finish in Kigali last year. Still, with wins at the Amstel Gold, Flèche Wallonne and Trofeo Binda to her name, this course could be a turning point for the Pole.

Another rider I'll be looking at is Kim Le Court-Pienaar (Mauritius). With only one other compatriot in the race, she won't have the level of team support that her rivals can rely on, but the course suits her strengths. With wins at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the Tour of Britain overall and stages in Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, she specialises in long, rolling terrain and steep, punchy climbs.

Similar in ability to Le Court is Belgian's Lotte Kopecky. But she's a bit of a question mark. The former World Champion does well on the punchy climbs and took some resounding wins this season at Milan-San Remo, Nokere Koerse and a stage of La Vuelta Femenina. But we haven't seen much of her later in the summer, and it's hard to gauge how her form is.

The World Championships are notorious for delivering surprise winners - just ask Magdeleine Vallières Mill. As such, there are a few dark horses I'll throw in: Kate Courtney (USA), Paula Blasi (Spain) and Franzi Koch (Germany).

Men’s elite road race: Del Toro gets AI’s vote

The Race:

The 273.7km route includes more than 3,800m of elevation gain and 12 laps of the Mount Royal circuit and Camillien-Houde climb (2.3km at 6.2%).

What AI predicts:

Bookmakers say Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) will follow up his time trial medal from earlier this week with another gold on Sunday. But AI's vote went to Mexican star Isaac del Toro, pointing to del Toro's victory in the GP de Montréal earlier this month.

"The counterargument is national-team support," AI argued with itself, explaining that Del Toro will race without the UAE team support that normally surrounds him in trade-team competition.

What we predict:

Yes, Evenepoel is indeed a clear favourite after his win in the time trial this past Sunday, but he's far from the only one. Belgium is lining up with both Evenepoel and Wout van Aert as co-leaders, giving the team options but also a tactical challenge. Evenepoel can attack from distance, while Van Aert provides a formidable option if a small group reaches the finish together. The question is whether Belgium can make those strengths work together.

Still, Evenepoel's palmares speaks for itself. Beyond his time-trialling and climbing prowess, the 26-year-old has long proven himself in punchy one-day races, with wins at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Amstel Gold Race, Clasica San Sebastian, and Worlds to his name. His recent win at the GP de Québec is another reason to expect him at the sharp end on Sunday.

But Van Aert is having quite the year himself. His Paris-Roubaix victory in the spring, followed by two stage wins and the green jersey at the Vuelta a España, suggests he's arriving with both confidence and form. The repeated climbs could take the sting out of his sprint, but he's exceptionally good at surviving hard races and still finding something extra at the finish.

Another rider everyone will be watching is France's Paul Seixas. Having only just turned 20, he's young enough to remain something of a question mark, but his results are already those of a serious contender. This season, he won La Flèche Wallonne and the overall at Itzulia Basque Country, finished fourth in the Tour de France and took second at the GP de Montréal. Clearly, the terrain suits him.

Then there's Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands), who's playing down his chances and suggesting the course might be a little too difficult for him. The accumulated climbing is a fair concern, but betting against him would be unwise. The former World Champion's 174km solo victory at the Tour of Luxembourg last week suggests he's in form. So if the favourites hesitate or let the race come back together, he's exactly the rider who could make them regret it.

And finally, a dark horse pick:

Team USA is lining up with a very deep field. It's hard to tell whether they'll go for Brandon McNulty, who has won in Montréal before, or Quinn Simmons. Et GP de Montréal earlier this month, McNulty and Simmons placed third and fourth, respectively. Then, in the time trial last Sunday, McNulty was just 12 seconds off from a medal, so his form is certainly there. Speaking to Cycling Weekly earlier this week, he said: "I think there's a chance. If we do everything perfect, to have a good shot at a medal."

As Ashlin Barry powered up the finishing straight on Montréal's Avenue du Parc, he was riding toward Team USA's first U23 men's road world title.

Along the course, he had seen his friends, heard his family's cheering and even picked out the barking of his dog. What didn't quite register was that nobody was going to catch him.

"Disbelief. It's surreal," Barry said of crossing the line.

The Toronto-raised American, who rides for the Visma–Lease a Bike Development squad, celebrated his 19th birthday with a resounding victory at the UCI Road World Championships, after spending much of the race out in front.

The American had been part of a five-rider breakaway that formed early and spent more than 100 kilometres off the front. Then, with 30 kilometres remaining, Barry took off on his own.

"I didn't think I could follow the best guys on the climbs so I tried to find a way to get ahead," he explained.

At times, his advantage dropped down to a precarious 20 seconds, but Barry held off the chasers over Montréal's punishing climbs.

"I kept thinking I was going to get caught. I expected it, but somehow it never happened," he said.

With 200 metres remaining, his chasers were out of sight. Barry could finally sit up, stretch out his tall frame and enjoy the reception from fans pounding the barriers.

"It was just unreal being out there," he commented. "It really felt like a home race out there."

Héctor Álvarez of Spain outsprinted the remnants of the breakaway for silver, banging his handlebars in frustration, while Norway's Jesper Stiansen took bronze.

Today's gold medal is the young talent's second medal at the World Championships, following his silver medal in the Kigali time trial in 2025. Other accomplishments include several junior national titles, second-place finishes in the junior races at Paris–Roubaix and E3 Harelbeke, and a second overall in the World Omnium Championships on the track in 2024. When he signed with Visma–Lease a Bike, the team called him "one of the biggest talents of his generation."

But long before Barry chased a rainbow jersey in Montréal, his parents had written their own chapters on the roads around Mount Royal.

A family affair, three generations deep

Barry is the third generation of his family to build a life around cycling with Montréal playing a central role in each chapter.

His mother, Dede Demet-Barry (USA), is a former junior road world champion and the Olympic time-trial silver medallist from Athens 2004. She raced and won the Montréal World Cup on these roads in 2002 on a steel Mariposa bicycle built by her father-in-law, Mike Barry Sr.

His father, Michael Barry, represented Canada at three Olympics and raced all three Grand Tours during a professional career that included stints with US Postal, Discovery Channel and Team Sky. He rode his final professional road race at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal in 2012, with young Ashlin watching from the roadside.

"My first memory of cycling is watching my dad race these roads," Ashlin Barry said. "I've dreamed of racing on this course, too."

Fourteen years later, Barry got his chance, with his parents watching from the roadside. After crossing the line, he fell into their arms and thanked them for their support.

The Dutch women have rarely lacked riders capable of winning the world title, but getting all that talent to work towards the same result has sometimes been the harder part.

In Montréal, too, the seven-rider roster is packed with possibility, and there could be several cards to play. There's Puck Pieterse, winner of La Flèche Wallonne in 2025, whose explosive climbing makes her a threat on short, steep ascents. Multi-time national champion, Riejanne Markus, brings a combination of climbing strength and time-trial power. And, of course, there's Demi Vollering, one of the peloton's biggest stars and winner of this year's Giro d'Italia Women and Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift.

Even the absence of Anna van der Breggen and Mischa Bredewold has done little to diminish the roster's fire power.

"We have a really strong squad here, and we're in a privileged position as the Netherlands," Vollering told the media on Thursday night, adding that the roster changes impacted the team's strength little.

"I don't necessarily think we have a weaker team here," she said. "That's something really special about the Netherlands — having so many riders to choose from."

But the leadership question is settled: the team is all in for Vollering.

"The girls are all fully on board with it, and we have a really strong squad," Vollering said.

Her role comes with the pressure to deliver. Vollering welcomes it, starting that the responsibility can bring out the best of her.

"The past has shown that when we have a good Plan A, I respond really well to that," Vollering said ahead of Saturday's road race at the UCI Road World Championships. "Because then I can't hide behind other strong riders.

"I actually like that kind of pressure, knowing that all those riders are doing it for you. Ultimately, that gives me that extra little percentage during the race to finish it off."

There is good reason for the Dutch to value this clarity. They have won five of the past 10 women's world road race titles, but their strength in numbers has sometimes been undermined by disjointed teamwork.

In Leuven in 2021, a succession of attacks left them short of riders to deliver Marianne Vos in the sprint, where she took silver behind Italy's Elisa Balsamo. In Zürich in 2024, Vollering accelerated behind a break containing teammates Vos and Riejanne Markus, helping bring it back before finishing fifth as the Dutch missed the elite podium altogether.

This time, national coach Laurens ten Dam has explicitly built the selection around Vollering, with conversations over the preceding weeks and months helping establish a shared understanding of her leadership role.

"I think [ten Dam] has done a really good job with that," Vollering said, explaining that he had been in regular contact with the riders and relayed their positive feedback to her.

Vollering is already seeing evidence of that commitment. During the course recon, Femke de Vries offered to set the pace for one of her planned climbing efforts. Puck Pieterse enthusiastically joined the idea, and the exercise became a shared challenge — one that took Vollering well beyond the intensity her coach had prescribed.

"We enjoyed it and had fun, so that was nice," she said. "I really like seeing that the girls came up with the idea themselves. That shows confidence in me."

The confidence within the group does not mean Vollering considers her own performance guaranteed. She believes she is in good form, but said the real answer will only come once the race is underway and she can measure herself against the opposition.

She also expects a long race to demand patience. An unpromising feeling early on need not dictate the outcome.

"Even if you don't have the very best legs, I think you can still get a long way on this course," she said. "You should never let your head drop, because it's so long. Things can change again during the race."

What the Dutch intend to do with that distance remains private. Asked whether they had already identified the point, or the lap, on which she would make her move, Vollering offered assurance without revealing the details.

"I think we have a really good plan, and it's super clear to all of us. But of course I'm not going to tell you," she said smiling.

The elite women's road race takes place on Saturday, 26 September, starting in Brossard at 9 a.m. local time (EDT). The 180.4km route includes eight laps of Montréal's 13.4km Mount Royal circuit and a total of 2,570 metres of climbing.

Mathieu van der Poel believes a hard, attritional race could improve his chances of claiming a second road world title in Montréal, arguing that accumulated fatigue can help him bridge the gap to the pure climbers on a course he describes as being on the outer edge of his capabilities.

The Dutchman pre-rode the World Championships circuit ahead of Sunday's elite men's road race and found it largely in line with his expectations. The climbing is substantial enough to make him cautious about his chances, but not enough for him to rule himself out of contention for a second rainbow jersey.

“It was more or less in line with what I expected," Van der Poel told the media on Thursday evening. “Like I said before, it's simply a difficult circuit. Probably just on the limit, but not impossible."

Reiterating what he has said throughout the build-up to the Worlds, Van der Poel added: “I don't think I'm one of the biggest favourites, but I still have a chance of winning the race if everything goes well."

Van der Poel compared the twisting, constantly undulating nature of the Montréal circuit to Glasgow, where he soloed to gold in 2023, although he was quick to point out one significant difference.

"The climb here is obviously harder than what we had in Glasgow," he said.

“Glasgow was even more about short, punchy climbs, whereas here, especially from around the last 500 metres before the finish all the way to the top, it's longer. It's a really difficult climb. But a lot will depend on how the race develops."

For the race to play out in his favour, Van der Poel is hoping for a tough, attritional contest. While he revealed that he is currently lighter than he was in the spring, the 31-year-old is not built like a pure climber. Instead, he believes his ability to continue producing high power after hours of hard racing could help offset that disadvantage.

"I think it's to my advantage if it's a hard race," he said. "That knocks the numbers down for everyone a little towards the end, and I think that allows you, as a Classics rider, to get closer to the climbers.

"The harder, the better, I think. If I'm good, of course. I think one of my strengths is that after a hard race I can still produce my watts. The harder the race is, the closer I get to the real climbers, so to speak."

That does not mean the Netherlands intend to take responsibility for making the race hard from the outset. Van der Poel expects other nations to take up that task while the Dutch team focuses on staying alert to moves as they develop.

“I don't think it's up to us to make it hard," he said. “There are other countries better suited to doing that. But we'll be attentive. I think more than enough countries already have plans to make the race hard, so it'll be up to us to be alert and make sure we're there."

A World Championships without Pogačar

The absence of Tadej Pogačar hangs a tactical picture in Montréal.

Van der Poel believes the Slovenian's absence could encourage a much broader group of riders and nations to race aggressively, with contenders who might otherwise have been racing for the minor medals suddenly seeing a path towards the rainbow jersey.

"Because Tadej isn't here, I think a lot of riders suddenly see a chance to become world champion," Van der Poel said. "That will change the race."

But how exactly it changes the race, Van der Poel cannot predict.

"I've thought about it a lot, but I don't have an answer either," he said. "Like always, I can write down a thousand scenarios, but on Sunday there will only be one, and we'll have to react to that."

Van der Poel admitted Pogačar's absence was a loss, both from a sporting perspective and because of what the Slovenian represents while wearing the rainbow jersey.

"I do think it's a shame," he said. "For the race and in general as well. As world champion, he's a figurehead for the sport. He's simply the best rider of the moment, and I think it's nice when a rider like that wears the world champion's jersey."

Without race radios at the World Championships, Van der Poel expects the uncertainty to be amplified. It is an environment he believes suits his instinctive style of racing.

"That's always the beautiful thing about a World Championships: it's very unpredictable," he said. "Especially without radios, suddenly it can be over. I think that's something that suits me."

When asked about his main competitors, Van der Poel singled out Remco Evenepoel and Paul Seixas as riders who have that valued combination of climbing ability and endurance needed for an attritional race.

He also pointed to France and the United States as nations to watch with strength in their depths.

‘It's not over if you can't follow once'

Van der Poel said that his course recon reinforced his view that the main climb will be the decisive feature of the circuit, but the shorter ascents that follow could become increasingly damaging as the kilometres accumulate.

It'll be an attritional race, no doubt, but the course does provide opportunities for riders to claw their way back on, Van der Poel thinks.

"If you're still riding hard yourself, maybe you lose 15 seconds if you're having a good day, and then the race certainly isn't over. Of course, that isn't going to work every lap either. But that's what makes it interesting," he said.

Van der Poel arrived in Canada after a remarkable victory in Luxembourg, where a 174km solo stage win showed promise of his late-season condition.

"On the one hand, it shows that the form is good, but it's no guarantee of success this Sunday."

There is also a degree of ease that comes from already knowing what it takes to win a World Championships. Asked whether his 2023 title gave him an advantage over younger contenders such as Seixas, Van der Poel said experience could make decision-making easier in the decisive moments.

"I think it's always a little easier to make decisions during the race when you've already won," he said. "The goal is still to try to become world champion again, but maybe it gives you a little more calm and makes it easier to make decisions in the final."

Van der Poel goes into Sunday's race, the last of his season, in an unusual position: not the obvious favourite, but unwilling to rule himself out.

"I'm looking forward to it..It's also my last race of the season. I've never raced here before, and it was always the plan to do Québec and Montréal at some point, but that never happened. I've worked hard for it, like everyone probably has, so hopefully I can make something beautiful out of it."

Isabella Holmgren’s teammates couldn’t contain their joy.

Crossing the line long after the sprint for the medals had taken place, they screamed with delight, then darted through the media tent towards the podium to cheer for their Bella.

But on the podium, Holmgren herself looked to be fighting back tears. Yes, she had won silver in the under-23 women’s road race at a home World Championships, but she had come for gold.

After an attritional 10 laps around the challenging Montréal circuit, the race came down to a two-up sprint with Slovakia’s Viktória Chladoňová, last year’s runner-up, reaching the line first. From the small chase, Belgium’s Fleur Moors won the sprint for bronze 33 seconds later, ahead of Switzerland’s Mara Winter and Australia’s Talia Appleton.

The repetitive 134km/83.3-mile course packed a serious punch with 2,690 metres/8,825 feet of climbing, gradually wearing down the field. Slovakia raced a smart race with a rider in the break at all times. Sofia Ungerová did a lot of the work for the country, staying out front with Finland's Wilma Antila for six laps. The breakaway was finally caught when, with 31 kilometres remaining, Chladoňová, Holmgren and Moors made the decisive move.

Homgren did a lot of work and even tried to shed her breakaway companion but Chladoňová held firm, surviving the Canadian’s attacks before coming around her in the sprint to claim the rainbow jersey.

"For sure, I wanted to win in front of a home crowd," Holmgren said in the press conference afterwards. "I'm disappointed to not win for Canada, but there were so many positives from today, so I can't be too upset."

Holmgren and Chladoňová both race on the WorldTour for Lidl-Trek and Visma-Leas a Bike, respectively, and know eachother well. As such, Holmgren knew the Slovakian has a kick and tried to avoid a sprint, but each time Chladoňová stayed with her.

“I gave everything on that first climb on the last lap, and it wasn’t enough to be solo. And then I tried again on the last climb, but once again, [Chladoňová] was able to follow," she said.

"In the end, it came down to a sprint, which isn’t ideal for me, but I did everything I could on the day."

Behind Homgren's medal was a collective Canadian effort. Alex Volstad and Kiara Lylyk kept the team near the front and covered attacks, while Holmgren's twin sister, Ava Holmgren, raised the pace on a climb after Holmgren asked for a harder race. Sydney Swierenga also covered moves and provided support.

"I think [the medal] was won by the whole team today, and I'm really proud of that.," Holmgren acknowledged.

"I'm just really grateful to have raced in Canada and to see everybody out supporting us," she said. "So I think it was a positive day altogether."

"It'll be a bit of a shitshow," one team manager warned me beforehand.

At 10 a.m. on Wednesday, I found myself corralled with hundreds of the world's best cyclists, waiting for the motos to roll us out.

It felt like a gran fondo with an extraordinary entry list. Wout van Aert, Remco Evenepoel, Mathieu van der Poel, Isaac del Toro, Demi Vollering, Kasia Niewiadoma, Lotte Kopecky: a who's who of cycling, out there alongside juniors and under-23s, all waiting to get onto the same stretch of road.

And, well, me.

It was recon day at the UCI Road World Championships in Montréal: a two-hour window on closed roads in which riders could scout the technical city circuit for the upcoming road races. For weeks, months even, they had been studying maps and elevation profiles. Now they could turn those diagrams into something they could see, feel and remember, provided they could find enough room.

I had joined a group of New Zealanders for the ride, rolling out from their downtown hotel towards the start line. Like everyone else at Worlds, their matching national jerseys suggested a uniformity. Their bikes and helmets, however, advertised the trade teams they call home for most of the season.

The Worlds offers compatriots one of the few chances to become teammates. Today's objective was learning the road. Learning how to work with the people wearing your jersey would have to happen in race meetings, on daily rides and during the downtime in between.

When the motos moved, we rolled away together. Riders chatted and laughed, and pulled phones from jersey pockets to collect something for social media later. Some junior men were getting air over speed bumps or showing off their wheelies. It had the crowded, sociable feel of a neutral rollout.

From the start line we descended for about 200 metres before heading straight into Camillien-Houde, the climb that could very well decide the outcome of these championships. It arrived too soon for the mass of riders to spread out, so we tackled it together.

About half a lap in, without warning, the unofficial neutral rollout ended. Up ahead, a little space had opened up, someone put some power through the pedals, and the pack began to stretch. Groups that had been riding socially were suddenly strung out in single file with riders testing their legs and picking lines at speed.

No one was calling out potholes or cracks anymore, yet Montréal's streets were littered with them. And while I was grateful for my loaner bike, I was sorely wishing its tubed 25mm tyres were tubeless 30s instead.

Everyone seemed mindful - because nobody wants to ruin their chances of a medal on recon day - but we were still screaming downhill in a crowd that mixed the literal best cyclists in the world with 17-year-olds still learning to ride in the bunch.

That directeur sportif had a point.

By lap two, the various purposes of the recon became apparent. Some riders, like Niamh Fisher-Black and Remco Evenepoel, were taking an easy look around. Others were putting in efforts or testing how a climb or corner felt at speed. On Camillien-Houde the second time, Zoe Bäckstedt came zooming past me, fully in the zone. And I spotted Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney cutting the course to repeat a particular section. Still others tried to fit as many complete laps as possible into the limited time available.

Who they rode with varied, too. Van der Poel had his longtime training partner Freddy Ovett for company. Others rode with team managers or coaches - often zooming by on Vespas.

New Zealand junior Mia Collins had programme's manager, Dan Gardner, a former professional cyclist, to help guide her. With Collins on his wheel, Gardner showed her lines through corners, where to stay alert, and where she would need to be near the front of the bunch come race day.

For riders who'd already pre-ridden the circuit, the closed roads offered a chance to check the details and to finalise decisions around gearing and tyre choices.

"This circuit is so short and technical that with a couple of laps, you can pretty much get it in your head, and you just need to memorize a couple key points," said Fisher-Black, who won silver in last year's event.

For her, today was meant to be an easy day, which was a good thing, too, because she didn't think anything more could happen during recon.

"I'll do a few laps today, but it's an easy training day for me," Fisher-Black said. "Anyone trying to do proper training today can give up."

The championship's defining circuit follows roads familiar to anyone who has raced or watched the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal. It measures just 13.4 km (8.3 miles), but packs in 269 metres (883 feet) of climbing per lap. Repetition is the problem. As Fisher-Black put it, the climb could be "cumulatively decisive".

It never felt flat. We were either climbing, descending, negotiating bends or finding a way around road furniture. Technical and punchy, it makes for an attritional race at full speed, the kind where riders drop off the back lap after lap until only the strongest remain.

Of course, three laps around the course can only tell you so much. The preceding flat(ish) run-in, the repeated climbing, and all the tactics that can happen between efforts leave room for several outcomes. Fisher-Black cautioned against naming a definitive favourite for the course.

"So many different people can win here," she said. "Every [move] is dangerous at Worlds."

The end of the recon ride did not mean the end of the day's obligations. Riders still had broadcast headshots to sit for. These are the faces that will appear on screen when the race gives the television director a reason to introduce them.

Then came the bike checks, particularly for the juniors and under-23s riders who'll be the first to tackle the course.

Junior gearing restrictions are no longer in effect, but there is still plenty for the UCI commissaires to inspect: frame and fork approval, the minimum weight of 6.8 kg, and those carefully optimised riding positions. Even the angle of the brake hoods has its own measuring gauge, checking that their inward tilt stays within 10 degrees of the handlebar drops.

For mass-start road racing, handlebars must measure at least 400 mm across their outside edges, including tape, with at least 280 mm between the innermost points of the brake hoods. Riders who had angled theirs a little too aggressively - and there were a few - were told to straighten them before racing or risk being disqualified.

With the photos and checks finished, it was back to the hotels for lunch, team meetings, stretching and whatever downtime remained.

The manager's warning had been fair. But amid the jumble, hundreds of riders had been getting what they came for: a corner taken at speed, a pinch point committed to memory, a better sense of where they will need to be when the action heats up.

The elites still have a few days to refine their plans. But for the under-23 women and junior men, it's an early bedtime and race day tomorrow. Both face ten laps of the circuit.

The women's under-23 road race starts at 9 a.m. EDT on Thursday, September 24, followed by the junior men at 1:30 p.m. EDT.

Aalia Clay won bronze in the junior women’s time trial at the UCI Road World Championships in Montréal on Tuesday, adding an international podium to a breakthrough season.

"It means a lot," Clay said. "It was pretty unexpected to me, and it’s pretty exciting."

The British rider completed the short, 10.7km course in 15:42, 24 seconds down from Poland’s Maria Okrucińska's race-winning time. Belgium’s Yana Decruyenaere earned the silver medal, 12 seconds back. Clay beat Switzerland’s Anja Grossmann to secure the final podium place by just seven hundredths of a second.

With 22 riders having completed the course already, it was Grossman who stormed to the first time under 16 minutes. She then got to enjoy the hot seat for 20 minutes before Decruyenaere unseated her.

Clay was the 39th rider to start with 20 more riders to go after her. She set the sixth fastest time coming through the first time check but while many competitors lost pace heading to the finish, Clay maintained hers, ultimately shaving less than a second of Grossman's time to nudge her off the podium altogether.

This result follows her victory at the British junior time trial championships in July as well as successes on the road.

In June, she became the first junior to win the women’s Ronde van Wymeswold overall, before adding top-10 finishes at the junior editions of Druivenkoers–Overijse and Grand Prix de Plouay.

At 17, this is Clay's first season as a junior. It was also her first World Championship appearance.

With those results and another season in the junior ranks ahead, Clay already has a target for her return to the World Championships.

"Hopefully to continue with this form next year and maybe world champion next year - that would be really cool," she told the media after the race.

She added that she's uncertain about her chance in "hilly France," but she hopes she'll be selected for them again. "And definitely aim for a jersey."

First, though, comes the junior women’s road race in Montréal. On Friday, Clay will line up alongside Scottish national road race champion Melanie Rowe, Zoe Roche, Peggy Knox, and Gabby McHugh, who is the only member of the British junior women’s squad to arrive with previous road world championship experience.

The race will take place at 2:15 PM local time / 7:15 PM BST.

For Enzo Hincapie, the final 600 metres of the junior men’s World Championships time trial could not end soon enough.

"I’m pretty dead right now," the American said after finishing 12th in Montréal on Tuesday. "That was a pretty long 26 minutes. Probably the longest 600 meters of my life from that corner to the finish, so I’m glad that’s over."

Hincapie finished 56 seconds behind Spain’s Benjamín Noval, who won the rainbow jersey with a six-second lead over Belgium’s Vic de Smet. Denmark’s Malthe Risbjerg completed the podium, 16 seconds off Noval's time.

There was a familiar family connection between the winner and the American. Hincapie’s father, George, and Noval’s father, also Benjamín, spent four seasons as teammates at US Postal and Discovery Channel. Their sons are now establishing themselves on the world stage, with Enzo making his second Road World Championships appearance after racing in Kigali last year.

Twelfth was short of the result Hincapie had wanted, but he was already looking towards another opportunity.

"I obviously wanted to fight for a medal in the time trial, but the legs weren’t there at all today," he said.

"I’m not really gonna let that bring me down. I’ve just got one more race to go and that’s my main target, so we’ll see how I feel on Thursday."

The course demanded careful pacing, taking riders through a somewhat technical opening and a flatter middle section before an uphill finish. Hincapie suspected he might have spent too much energy early on.

"The first part felt a bit more sneaky than I thought to be honest," Hincapie said. "You don’t really feel the effort because you have the race adrenaline and then you get to kind of coast for a bit in the corners."

But by the closing stages, the effort had caught up with him. By the time he turned into the uphill finishing straight, he didn't even look up.

"I just wanted to not see how far it was and see how hard I could go to the finish and not think about where I really was," he commented.

Enzo has already collected five U.S. junior national titles across road racing and time trialling. And Tuesday’s disappointment has not diminished his interest in racing against the clock.

"I really like the time trial. I think it’s really humbling," he said. "I think it’s good for you to get out there and, and test your limits and learn more about yourself. I don’t want limit myself in disciplines. I want to see how good I can get in each discipline."

The question about what he had learned this time, however, came a bit too soon after the finish.

"I’ll have to reflect when I get back to the hotel," he said.

The reflection will be short, however, as his next target is just two days away.

Thursday’s road race offers terrain he has become familiar with through watching the Grand Prix de Montréal with his family each year. His father raced that event a few times in his time too, and was able to offer his son some insights.

Hincapie expects that it'll be a hard race and one that requires constant attention.

"I don’t think you should really be sleeping at all at, at any point in that race," he said. “It’s all about being in the right position and hitting the climbs in a good spot.

"I'm looking forward to it. It’s going to be a long race [and] a lot of times up the climb, so just git to keep fighting."

For the road race, Hincapie will be joined by Sylvan Garrelts, Cormac Nagle, Rowan Nistal and Kashus Adamski, who finished 13th in the time trial.

The junior men’s road race takes place on Thursday, September 24, starting at 1:30 p.m. EDT, and covers 134 kilometres (83 miles) with 2,690 metres (8825) of elevation gain.

Australian rider Cameron Rogers has said that cycling is "brutal" after he suffered a race-changing mechanical during the under-23 time trial at the UCI Road World Championships in Montréal.

The misfortunate incident for the 21-year-old happened early in his effort on Monday, and presaged an angry outburst, which was captured on camera. According to his maths, he would have ended up on the podium had he not had the mechanical, although this is impossible to ratify. Ryan Gal of the Netherlands was a surprise winner, winning in 37:26 over the 31.3km course, 3:24 ahead of Rogers.

Rogers' chain dropped off his chainring, leading to minutes on the roadside as a mechanic tried to get his bike going again. As a result, he slammed his saddle and shouted "f*cking piece of sh!t" as his chances of a competitive time went up in smoke. He ended up having to finish on a road bike at one of the biggest events of his season.

Posting on Instagram on Tuesday, he said: "This sport is brutal. 3:17 - lost time spent standing still. 3:24 - time from the winner.

He said the facts of the incident were: "9.9km into the race, I lost my chain. It came off outside the chain guard, meaning the guard had to be removed with a tool before I could get going again.

"My derailleur had bent into the wheel and had to be bent back," he continued. "The damage put the derailleur into crash mode, leaving me unable to shift for the remaining 21.4km. I was stuck in my biggest gear: 66x11. With 3km to go, I was forced to switch to my road bike to make it to the finish."

"It took everything not to throw it all away and get in the car," Rogers wrote. "But I’m glad I didn’t because afterwards I could look at the numbers and put the race into perspective. Despite everything that happened it showed me that it was possible, just wasn’t meant to be yesterday.

"I want to thank everyone who helped get me here and gave me the opportunity to stand on that start line in the best possible shape. To Netcompany-Ineos, AusCycling, Boy Sanders, Simon Watts, Dario Cioni and everyone behind the scenes who has supported the work that went into this, thank you.

"Yesterday wasn’t the result we came for, but I’m proud that I kept racing through it. There’s more to come."

Imagine the pitch meeting for the Road World Championships. Once a year, we get the best bike riders to come to a city somewhere in the world, one they may never have been to before – let alone to ride a bike in anger – and we get them to race over an extraordinarily long distance. They won’t be riding for their normal trade teams , of course, that would be silly. They’ll race in national teams, creating some odd mashups and squads with wildly different strengths. The peloton is huge, too, with different countries allowed different numbers of riders. Oh, and of course, there are no race radios, because any kind of organisation would be too normal.

It creates a kind of anarchy wherever the Worlds lands. This year, it’s the turn of Montréal in Canada, which is perhaps a bit more familiar due to the men’s WorldTour race the Grand Prix de Montréal, which takes place on a similar circuit. But nothing can be assumed when the UCI’s flagship event rolls into town. The route this year is hard, but not the extreme brutality of Rwanda last season; as a result, the ‘riders that could win it’ category is pretty wide open, from Isaac del Toro to Wout van Aert for the men, Demi Vollering to Cédrine Kerbaol for the women. There could also be someone no-one has thought of yet in the rainbows by the end.

The stage is set for chaotic things to happen, whether that’s Magdeleine Vallieres’ unexpected victory in Canada last year, or Mathieu van der Poel’s win after he crashed and broke his shoe in Glasgow in 2023. With the junior and under-23 races to come before the elites, too, there’s a chance to discover the stars of now and the future, on a grander scale than usual. We might be familiar with the ‘Mont Royal Circuit’, but the race really could go any which way, especially as the women will ride 180km, and the men 273km.

The men’s race this year will be made different by the absence of Tadej Pogačar, and while the world’s best cyclist will be missed, it creates a much more open race. With the Slovenian not able to solo from incredibly far out, will someone try and ape him? Or will there be a group of favourites deep into the race? Will there be a final sprint? Again, until the kilometres are tackled, we won’t know.

The best women in the world, meanwhile, will be itching to make up for missed opportunities. There is a whole tranche of big names who have never pulled on the rainbow bands: Demi Vollering, Elisa Longo Borghini and Kasia Niewiadoma to name three, who have finished in the top 10 four, seven and six times, respectively. There are only so many chances to win the Worlds, and it would be career-defining for whoever wins it.

I’m looking forward to all of the road races, and my secret hope is that both the elite men’s and women’s events produce new winners – I like seeing someone different in the rainbow bands. And, whatever happens, the anarchy should make for excellent entertainment.

This piece is part of The Leadout, the offering of newsletters from Cycling Weekly and Cyclingnews. To get this in your inbox, subscribe here.

If you want to get in touch with Adam, email adam.becket@futurenet.com.

Ben Wiggins arrived at the UCI Road World Championships aiming for gold. But he left the men’s under-23 time trial outside the top 10, struggling to understand how a ride that had felt so strong could deliver so little.

The British rider finished 11th, one minute and seven seconds behind the Netherlands’ Ryan Gal, missing both the podium he had expected to challenge for as well as a top-10 placing.

"I said I wanted to come here and go for gold or at least, at the very least, a medal," Wiggins said shortly after finishing.

"I’m very surprised, especially with the performance I’ve put in there."

Surprise was the word of the afternoon. Ryan Gal was quick to call himself a surprise victor. He was the 27th rider to roll down the starting ramp and proceeded to set the new fastest time at all the time checks with an average speed of more than 50kph.

Of the 26 higher-ranked riders to follow, only three riders were able to beat Gal’s time by the second time check. Yet, all three lost speed on the rollers into the finish. Italy's Nicolas Milesi ended up in second place, seven seconds off Gal's time, and Hector Alvarez of Spain rounded out the podium, 12 seconds away from the gold medal.

In the media tent, mere minutes after his finish, the British U23 time trial champion watched the podium finalise on a TV.

As he fielded questions from the media, he was scrolling through the pages of his cycling computer in disbelief.

 "I've done some of my best numbers ever. Whether they're true, I don't know," he said. "Yeah, to be honest, I have no idea [what happened]."

Looking at his screen, Wiggins reported an average power of 440 watts - a figure he would normally expect to put him among the top contenders at this level.

Perhaps there had been one indication that the ride was not unfolding as he expected, the 21-year-old said, thinking out loud.

"You know, on the flat sections, I just felt like I was maybe a [kilometre] an hour or two off from where I'd want to be...so kind of across the whole course really," he said. "I don't know why that is."

He wondered whether changing conditions might have played a part, having noticed strong results from some earlier starters. But he offered no firm explanation.

"This isn’t me making excuses," he said. "I’m just pointing out, I don’t know."

“I’m a bit lost for words right now."

Wiggins started taking cycling seriously relatively late, at 16, but soon demonstrated his promising talent. In 2023, he won junior time trial silver, a performance that helped establish his credentials beyond his famous surname.

He loves the time trial discipline and is not planning on giving it up any time soon, no matter the setback.

"This is a discipline I’m really passionate about, and I’m never going put it away," he said. "Back to the drawing board and we’ll go again soon."

When asked to elaborate, Wiggins said his first task will be to properly digest and analyse the performance, then help his British teammates in Friday’s road race.

The European time trial follows in a couple of weeks, offering another chance before the end of his season.

"[The time trial] just doesn't lie. The best guy wins on the day most of the time, so I like that," he said, even if that means disappointment at times.

"There's a lot more to [time trialling] than just legs and numbers and things, as I've learned today. It's something I want to keep working on. I know what I am capable of."

Ava Holmgren’s first goal for her home World Championships was simply to reach the start line healthy. On Monday in Montréal, she went considerably further, finishing sixth in the under-23 women’s time trial and taking renewed confidence into Thursday’s road race.

The Canadian Lidl-Trek rider clocked 28:42 over the 20.3km course, finishing 1:01 behind race winner Felicity Wilson-Haffenden of Australia, who added an under-23 title to her previous junior rainbow jersey. Nienke Vinke of the Netherlands took silver, with Belgium’s Luca Vierstraete completing the podium.

Wilson-Haffenden was second at the first checkpoint before moving ahead at the second. Her winning time of 27:40 was the only ride under 28 minutes, ending Vinke’s hour in the hot seat.

For Holmgren, who missed the medals by approximately 16 seconds, improving four places on last year's result carried particular significance after a difficult season.

"My first goal was to just show up on the line healthy, and it’s been a hard year for me in terms of health, so I’m really happy with that," she told Cycling Weekly.

"Sixth place compared to 10th last year is a big improvement, so I’m happy with that."

Her performance followed third place at the Tour de Gatineau, giving her another encouraging result heading into the road race.

American Kylee Hanel was Team USA’s highest finisher in 21st place.

She arrived in Montréal after a breakthrough season that included victories at Unbound Gravel 100 and the U.S. under-23 time trial championships, alongside a stage win and the youth classification at the Tour of the Gila.

Those performances helped earn her a stagiaire opportunity with Visma-Lease a Bike.

She raced the Montréal course on the team's Cervélo P5, explaining afterwards that she had ridden her time trial bike only four times.

Hanel has spent the past month racing in Europe while also maintaining an off-road programme in the Life Time Grand Prix at home. At the finish, she still bore a black eye from a crash last month and acknowledged the accumulated fatigue.

"I think towards the end of the season you get a little fatigued. I’ve done a lot of racing," she said. "So it’s more of my body’s kind of getting ready to rest. But I mean, it felt good. It felt fine."

The course’s repeated efforts presented a challenge of their own.

"It’s just a whole lot of punchy stuff, and that’s not my strength yet. But work in progress."

The result came as Hanel continues to gain experience on the road, with her stagiaire spell offering a chance to test herself alongside WorldTour riders. Asked whether those opportunities brought added pressure to perform, she said the expectations were her own.

"Right now I’m the only one that’s putting pressure on myself."

Hanel intends to continue combining road and gravel over the next two years. Returning off-road also means returning to a familiar racing community.

"It’s a different environment, so different people. I know a lot more people there, so I get to race with my friends," she said.

First, however, comes Thursday’s road race. Hanel said the American squad had yet to work through its tactics but speaking for herself, she said her aim was to "race her best race."

Holmgren, meanwhile, is looking forward to racing in front of home supporters and alongside her twin sister, Isabella (Lidl-Trek).

"My only other race with her this year was the Tour de Gatineau, and we did really well," she said.

The sisters made the final break together there, and Ava is eager for another opportunity to work together.

"She’s super strong, and I know how hard she’s been working for this, and she can see the same with me."

Beyond her sister, Holmgren will have family and longtime supporters on the roadside, including people who helped her make the move to racing in Europe.

"I’m happy that I can finally show them how hard we work, and they can see it firsthand," she said.

Asked about Team Canada’s chances on Thursday, she said: "I think we have a really strong team, and if we can play our cards right, we can go for the best result."

Holmgren is set to line up alongside her twin sister Isabella, Kiara Lylyk, Alexandra Volstad and Sidney Swierenga in Canada’s five-rider squad.

Hanel will be joined by US under-23 road champion Katherine Sarkisov, Alyssa Sarkisov, Mia Aseltine and Lidia Cusack.

The women’s under-23 road race starts at 9 a.m. EDT on Thursday, September 24, with riders tackling 134km and 2,690 metres of climbing.

This is the as-yet-unreleased Canyon time trial bike that Marlen Reusser and Zoe Bäckstedt rode to the gold and silver medals in the World Championship individual time trial, with Antonia Niedermaier giving the new model another top-10 place when she finished seventh.

Cycling Weekly’s Anne-Marije Rook is on location in Montreal and shot Niedermaier’s bike at the finish. She also had a quick chat with the German rider.

Usually team mechanics will whip unreleased bikes out of sight and do everything they can – without quite resorting to violence – to stop any overly keen cycling journalist from trying to find out about a new bike prior to it's launch. But this was not the case with the new Canyon. The German brand didn’t try to hide the bike – in fact it has already written the story on its own website.

“Drawing from the same DNA as Canyon’s Speedmax triathlon bike, which was released earlier this year, the bike that looks set to be the new TT version of the Speedmax powered Reusser around the 39.2 km course in 50m 24s to earn the bike rainbow bands on its first race outing.

“Engineered at Canyon’s headquarters in Koblenz, Germany, the unreleased Speedmax CFR TT looks like it has been designed to push the boundaries of aerodynamic efficiency, structural stiffness, and ergonomic customisation under full UCI compliance.

“The 1-2 podium placing in Montreal surely marks the culmination of an intensive development cycle as Canyon prepares the next-generation Speedmax CFR TT for a future commercial release. Further details around the technical specifications, global availability and launch dates will be announced by Canyon in the coming months.”

Canyon’s holding story is designed to tease rather than to actually tell us anything, so what can we discern from the photos? The front end is the biggest change compared with the old Speedmax, which was launched in 2021. The new bike has a wider fork, likely to push up to the UCI’s maximum limit of 115mm for the internal width. This is a design we’ve seen most recently with Factor’s ONE road bike, its Hanzo track bike, and the Hope HB.T track bike that was designed for Great Britain to use at the Tokyo Olympics.

The base bar sits on top of the extended fork blades that rise either side of the crown, with the stackers for the tri-bars continuing the vertical line. The airflow is channeled past a very narrow head tube through the ducts created by the layout.

Widening the fork and seatstays in line with the rider’s legs aims to allow cleaner air to pass through the much wider blades and then capture turbulence off the legs and smooth it as it leaves the bike, but it’s interesting that Canyon has only gone with the concept for the front of the new bike. The rear has relatively traditional dropped seatstays like the older version rather than the high, arcing shape of the Hope or the swept-back Factor Hanzo. The chainstays are a similar shape as before – horizontal with the ground to present a smaller frontal profile and then bending upwards to meet the rear axle.

The other new feature for the Speedmax TT is the integrated water bottle that fills in the gap at the bottom of the main triangle and smooths the air off the front wheel. Colnago did something similar with the TT1. On initial inspection, it seems to contravene UCI technical regulation 1.3.024 that states; 'Bottles shall not be integrated to the frame and may only be located on the down and seat tubes on the inside of the frames." And, "there must be a physical and/or visual space between the bottle and the tube to which it is attached."

They go on to say, "bottle cages that are integrated must be submitted by a manufacturer to the UCI during the approval procedure for framesets,". Canyon would not have developed a mould for this frame without prior approval and none of the riders were DQ'd for riding this system.

In this case the top of the water bottle aligned with the top of the radically dropped seatstays, whereas the new Canyon has a small lip on the seat tube to act as a fairing for the bottle while the seatstays emerge above it.

The Cervélo P4 in the 2000s used a similar integrated bottle - that was popular in triathlon - and at the time was very fast in the wind tunnel, so there’s clearly aerodynamic value in it.

Niedermaier said she liked the new bike and noted that despite the large fork, the handling at the front is sharp and responsive. She rides the 2XS size. Whereas Reusser has tested it in the wind tunnel at Friedrichshafen, Niedermaier said she had yet to optimise her position on the new model in a wind tunnel.

How easy to use is the new integrated water bottle? Niedermaier said the Worlds TT at just under an hour of riding was relatively long, but despite this she hadn’t reached for it.

Niedermaier's bike (and Reusser's and Bäckstedt's) is built with the SRAM Red AXS TT groupset as before, using a 1x chainset and wheels from Zipp, the wheel brand also owned by her Canyon-SRAM team's groupset sponsor.

We expect Canyon’s engineers will have found watt savings and possibly weight savings – that’s the way progress works of course – and we’ll have to wait to find out exactly what they claim to be. Canyon have told us the bike will be commercially available in 2027. But what can’t be disputed is the dream debut for this bike – a 1-2 podium at the World Championships.

The 2026 UCI Road World Championships officially opened when Zimbabwe’s Skye Davidson rolled down the starting ramp of the women’s elite time trial.

But she contested her race on a rather unusual setup. Where we’ve become used to seeing the latest and greatest of incredibly sleek, wind-defying machines, hers looked…well, a bit dated.

She rode what appeared to be a 2015 Cervélo P3, complete with rim brakes, mechanical Shimano Dura-Ace and Profile Design clip-on aerobars. She was rolling on a Zipp 404 front wheel and a Zipp 808 rear wrapped in Pirelli P Zero tyres.

Still a serious time-trial bike, but roughly a decade old, borrowed at the last minute and a size bigger than her usual ride.

As it turns out, the bike belongs to Zimbabwe team manager Nathan van Vuuren, who lent Davidson his bike after hers broke during the course recon the day before.

"This bike is the first time I’m riding it, 'cause my bike broke yesterday," Davidson explained. "The derailleur hanger snapped and the jockey wheel broke, but it's done that three times in the last week."

Van Vuuren, who stood noticeably taller than Davidson as we spoke afterward her race, came to the rescue and offered his own bike.

"Good thing I brought it," he remarked.

Davidson usually rides a 54cm bike but was happy with the 56cm loaner.

"It's not the end of the world," she said of the substitute. "I mean, it’s great considering, you know, compared to my road bike, which was my only other option. It’s great.”

Davidson is a former multi-time Zimbabwean national road race and time trial champion who previously rode for the University of Edinburgh cycling team while studying astrophysics. She hasn’t raced a time trial in a couple of years and started first.

“I was actually very happy that I was going off first, ’cause I think it kind of removes all of the pressure,” she said. “And it was quite nice having the motorbike in front to follow.”

There was also the relief of knowing there was a little breathing room before the biggest names came through.

“Not having too many of the big, big riders going immediately after me, so that was quite nice,” she said.

Once underway, the temptation was to attack the technical opening too enthusiastically.

“The beginning bit is very hard to not go out too hard because of all the corners, and you kind of want to ride it quite aggressively,” she said. “I think I did go out a little bit too hard, which is absolutely fine. I can learn from that.”

She found a rhythm through the first three quarters before the effort began to catch up with her.

“My legs were really, really killing me towards the end. But I think I managed to back off just enough to ride the last 4Ks up all the hills.”

Davidson finished 40th.

“All things considered, I am quite happy,” she concluded.

Davidson’s World Championships continue on Saturday, 26th September with the women’s elite road race.

The Cervélo’s championship aren’t over yet either. It will make another appearance in the junior men’s time trial.

The first test of the 2026 UCI Road World Championships left Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates XRG) just 12 seconds short of a medal, and gave fellow American Artem Schmidt (Netcompany INEOS) encouragement ahead of the road race.

For both, the time trial offered reasons for optimism, even if Sunday's challenge will demand far more than a strong, sustained effort.

McNulty finished fourth as Belgian's Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull - Bora - hansgrohe) claimed his fourth consecutive time trial title, briefly occupying the second-place hot seat before the final contenders pushed him out of the medals.

The margin was narrow, and his immediate reaction was satisfaction with a ride that confirmed his condition.

"12 seconds from the medal is not bad," McNulty said. "I’m happy with the ride.

"I think it showed the work was paying off and, yeah, hopefully I can keep getting better."

For 22-year-old Schmidt, the challenge lay in deciding where to push and where to hold something back. Speaking to Cycling Weekly before he knew his finishing position, 18th, he was pleased with how he had managed the effort.

"I think I left mostly everything out there," he said. "It's super easy to lose momentum with the potholes, and trying to gain that momentum back is super tough."

The next task is turning those individual efforts into a collective performance in the road race. McNulty believes the Americans have the strength to make an impact, describing the squad as "the best team I think the U.S. have had."

In 2025, McNulty crossed the line first here to win the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal. Compatriot Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) finished third that day. On their returns to the same race earlier this month, McNulty and Simmons placed third and fourth, respectively. Something, McNulty said, he can take confidence from.

"I think there's a chance. If we do everything perfect, to have a good shot at a medal," he said.

But he is very realistic about the opposition, naming the likes of Evenepoel and Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands) among the fiercest competition.

"We have our work cut out, but I think we have a good team to race aggressively," he said.

"There are a ton of strong guys that I don’t think we’ve ever really beaten before, so it’s going to be hard," he said. "But I think we have numbers to at least play our cards well."

Schmidt expects to contribute in support.

"The road race is a different type of beast than the time trial," Schmidt said.

"But I have a good threshold and good one-hour power to help the guys as much as I can."

For McNulty, fourth place provides a timely indication of form before returning to roads where he has already won.

"I love the circuit, so I’m excited," he said. "But it’ll be a hard day."

Marlen Reusser (Switzerland) and Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) delivered the expected victories, but the road to the rainbow jerseys received mixed reviews. The Formula 1 race circuit aside, rough surfaces, potholes, tight corners and the difficulty of carrying speed became recurring themes in riders’ reactions to a course that tested more than pure power.

Brandon Rivera (Colombia) crossed the line with a badly rubbing front wheel, torn clothing and bloodied skin. Ethan Hayter (Great Britain) hit a barrier and was nursing a sore hand as he spoke to journalists. Jakob Söderqvist (Sweden) saw his podium challenge disrupted by a slide-out in the closing technical section.

"The roads are pretty low quality and having half the road is really hard to judge with the cones," said Hayter, who finished 18th. "You don’t quite carry the speed the same as a normal road."

Silver medallist Filippo Ganna (Italy) also criticised the surface during his press conference, saying he had expected better and that "everyone would have benefitted from a better road."

For American Brandon McNulty, familiarity with the roads did little to soften the demands of the closing kilometres. The former Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal winner briefly occupied the second-place hot seat before finishing fourth, 12 seconds off a medal.

"You hit those corners with a lot of fatigue in your legs. It never feels good," he said.

The finish was familiar from his previous appearances in Montréal, but that offered little comfort.

"I think that was one of the worst times I’ve done it," he said.

The men’s crashes followed concerns from riders in the women’s race who tackled their longest time trial in the event’s history.

For Spain’s Paula Blasi, distance was not the issue. She felt she had the form to produce a strong ride, but struggled to find confidence.

Blasi, one of the season’s breakout stars on the road, had crashed during reconnaissance of the Spanish National Championships time trial course in June. The memory of that crash made the bumps and holes harder to negotiate.

"Already when we were doing the recon, I think the road is not as good as we were expecting," she said. "It didn’t help at all to have these holes on the road."

The flatter stretches and smooth roads of the Formula 1 circuit offered some respite. The technical first half, however, saw her losing a lot of time.

"The road was super bumpy, and mentally I got super scared, so every corner I was losing two, three seconds," said Blasi, who finished 18th. "You cannot compete with that."

Remco Evenepoel dominated the elite men’s time trial at the World Championships in Montréal, blasting around the 39.2km course almost a minute faster than his nearest rival.

The Belgian becomes the first man to win the world time-trial title in four consecutive years, after wins in Glasgow, Zürich and Kigali.

Evenepoel led through every time-check in one of his most dominant time-trial performances. Italy's Filippo Ganna finished runner-up, 57 seconds down, while 19-year-old Frenchman Paul Seixas impressed by taking third, 1:13 down on Evenepoel.

With most of the expected favourites yet to come through the finish line, it was Seixas who was in the hot seat with a time of 46:06. It appeared that Sweden's Jakob Söderqvist would be able to overhaul the young Frenchman before the Lidl-Trek man crashed on a left-hander towards the end of his run.

Ganna was way down early on but improved through his ride, beating Seixas by 16 seconds.

No one, however, was in the same universe as Evenepoel on the flat and technical course, which featured a tough climb in the final kilometre. He set a blistering time of 44:53 to claim the rainbow jersey once more, with an average speed of 52.4km/h.

"It's amazing. It was obviously the goal to come and win here for the fourth time in a row. It was a big motivation," Evenepoel said after crossing the line.

"I just have to thank the whole team around me again for the preparation. I have to thank Specialized for all the new material that they made with me. It was a pretty fast one today. I'm very happy with the feeling and the cornering. It was a very demanding course with a technical start and finish and a power part in the middle."

On such a long time trial, pacing the effort was all important. Evenepoel was concerned that he may have overdone the first section, holding a nine-second lead over Söderqvist.

However, the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe man said that his extremely good form allowed him to keep pushing all the way to the line.

"I thought at the first intermediate that I kind of overpaced, but I just could keep pushing," he said, before hinting at his confidence ahead of the road race next week.

"I must say that I've just had a wonderful feeling all day. It's a pretty good start of the Worlds."

"I think there's quite some time to rest out now and enjoy this special one. Full focus on Sunday from Tuesday on."

How it Happened

The elite men’s time trial World Championship took place on the same 39.2km course as the elite women’s. A flat course with a sting in the tail, the riders would take in part of the Circuit Gilles Villenueve race track, a series of tricky 90-degree corners and some straight, power sections.

Germany’s Jasha Sütterlin set the early benchmark time, fending off the initial challenge of the likes of South African Byron Munton and Portuguese Nelson Oliveira. Shortly after Sütterlin’s effort, Denmark’s Kasper Asgreen became the first man under 47 minutes, setting a time that would see him finish inside the top-10. However, the main favourites for the rainbow jersey had now left the start ramp.

French sensation Paul Seixas, one of the favourites for the road race, was riding impressively. He was setting fastest times through several intermediates in his first competitive time-trial of this length in the elite category.

One of the outsiders for the podium, Swedish rider Jakob Söderqvist set a strong time at the first check and edged also ahead of Seixas at the second check.

Evenepoel was the only man to beat the time of Söderqvist at the first check, putting nine seconds into the former under-23 world champion.

It was clear that several expected challengers, the likes of Stefan Küng and Ethan Hayter, were far short of what was required to beat the Belgian. All were more than 20 seconds down on Evenepoel after just 10km. Each would go on to lose more time at each intermediate.

Before the reigning champion cruised through, Söderqvist was leading at the second check as well, five seconds ahead of Seixas. The Swede also held that exact advantage on the third check after 29km.

Callum Thornley led the British charge, finishing just inside the top-10 with a time of 46:55.

Seixas was the first man to beat Asgreen, defeating the EF Education First-EasyPost rider by 35 seconds in a ride that will put others hoping to wear rainbows next Sunday on notice.

As Evenepoel shot past the second intermediate check, it was clear that nobody would come close to the best time-triallist in the world as he extended his lead over Söderqvist by another 25 seconds. Ganna had improved at the second check to close in on the podium, but the 2020 and 2021 titlist was still 40 seconds back on Evenepoel.

With less than 3km of his race to ride, Söderqvist slid out on one of the many 90-degree corners. He quickly returned to his bike, but limped over the line. The crash had cost him a potential podium spot. He finished 13 seconds down on Seixas, with Brandon McNulty also edging ahead of him.

Ganna had progressed again to narrowly beat Söderqvist’s time at the third timing check at 29km. Flying through shortly after, Evenepoel stretched his lead further to 48 seconds.

The effort clear on his face, Ganna overhauled Seixas for second-place by 15 seconds, but the former champion was well shy of modern cycling’s time-trialling great.

Evenepoel negotiated the final spaghetti-like series of corners with ease, powering on to comfortably defend his title, even having the time and presence of mind to sit up in celebration.

Results

World Championships elite men's time-trial: Montréal > Montréal (39.2km)

1. Remco Evenepoel, Belgium in 44:53
2. Filippo Ganna, Italy, +57s
3. Paul Seixas, France, +1:13
4. Brandon McNulty, USA, +1:25
5. Jakob Söderqvist, Sweden, +1:26
6. Isaac del Toro, Mexico, +1:38
7. Stefan Küng, Switzerland, +1:44
8. Kasper Asgreen, Denmark, +1:48
9. Daan Hoole, Netherlands, +2:02
10. Callum Thornley, Great Britain, +2:02

On the morning of the individual time trial at the 2026 UCI Road World Championships, Marlen Reusser (Switzerland) started her day earlier than she would have liked.

Worse still, on her way down to breakfast, a succession of people approached her, wishing her an enthusiastically bright "happy birthday."

From breakfast, it was time to transfer to the course and settle into the familiar pre-race routine: a warm-up on the trainer, another snack and some mental preparation. Nothing new, nothing different. Birthday thoughts could wait.

But the birthday greetings returned when she took her place on the top step of the podium, where the crowd sang "Happy Birthday" to the now two-time world champion. For her 35th birthday, she’d given herself another year in rainbow stripes.

With two silver medals, a bronze and a gold already to her name, the headlines about birthday rainbows may practically have written themselves, but victory was by no means a shoo-in. Nor is a birthday always granted.

Great Britain’s Zoe Bäckstedt was faster at both the first and second intermediate time checks. But Reusser turned the tide over the second half of the course, ultimately finishing 40 seconds ahead of the young Welsh rider.

Close enough that Reusser's first thought at the line was "did I win?"

Birthdays and World Championships have coincided before for Reusser. Five years earlier, in Flanders, she had lined up for the time trial on her 30th birthday with the same ambition, only to finish one step short of the top of the podium.

"I remember Flanders 2021, it was my 30th birthday also exactly the day of the ITT," she said. "It was a big goal to win there, and I just came second."

This time, gold came on a course Reusser had grown to enjoy, even if its demands initially left her feeling overwhelmed. Having studied the route before leaving Europe, she rode it as soon as she could after arriving in Montréal.

"I really liked it because it’s adventurous. It has different parts and technicals," she said. "So you were not bored at any point, and this I really loved."

Enjoying the challenge was one thing; choosing it for a world title bid was another.

"To win, I wouldn’t choose necessarily this parcours," Reusser admitted.

Yet on a course she might not have picked, her birthday wish came true.

"Either way, there would be be something to celebrate today," Reusser said.

Former rainbow jersey Mathieu van der Poel revealed his fine form ahead of another tilt at the world title in Montréal, Canada this week with a sensational long solo breakaway on the final stage of the Tour of Luxembourg.

The 2023 world road race champion was fine-tuning his fitness with his Alpecin-Premier Tech team at the late-season stage race, taking a different preparation route from many of his rivals, many of whom raced the Canadian WorldTour doubleheader last week.

Keen to wring every last drop of hard work out of the race and well down the General Classification, Van der Poel went on the attack on the 177km stage five on Sunday, finding himself up the road by himself in the opening kilometres.

The peloton chased on an undulating day finishing in Limpertsberg, with various pursuing groups forming. However, none could catch Van der Poel, who won by more than a minute ahead of Mikkel Honore (EF Education First-EasyPost).

Visma-Lease a Bike’s Davide Piganzoli won the overall title after claiming the stage four time-trial.

Van der Poel, who also won the opening stage in an uphill sprint, was clear of the bunch for 174km by himself. It’s one of the longest successful solo breakaways in the history of professional cycling.

“That was not the plan before the start,” Van der Poel said afterwards. “I found myself alone from the start of the race in fact, and I just rode my tempo the whole day.”

“At first I thought the chasers would catch up to me, but I just continued to ride at my power and the gap grew out again. At that point I decided to just go all-out until the finish,” he explained.

Next, Van der Poel will travel to Montréal with his eyes set on the World Championships road race on Sunday.

On a tough course with climbs longer than would usually suit him, the Dutch leader is playing down his chances. However, Van der Poel believes that tactics could come into play with smaller squad sizes and communication challenges at play at the Worlds.

“I think the course is just a little too hard for me,” Van der Poel told NOS earlier in the week.

“It will definitely be on the hard side, but you never know in a championship…A World Championship can sometimes become an atypical race. You’re racing with national teams, there’s no radio communication.”

“It’s not like other races, which are easier to predict.”

Van der Poel has won the road world title once before in his career, at the 2023 Worlds in Glasgow.

The World Championships elite men’s road race will take place on Sunday, 27 September in Montréal.

There was no disappointment for Zoe Bäckstedt this time. Last year's under-23 world champion was "over the moon" after taking silver in her elite Worlds time trial debut in Montréal, weeks after a fourth-place finish at the Tour de France Femmes had left her so disappointed.

The 21-year-old Welsh rider powered through the technical 39.2-kilometre course to finish 40 seconds behind Marlen Reusser. Germany’s Franziska Koch completed the podium 5 seconds behind Bäckstedt.

"At the Tour I was fourth, and I was really disappointed with this, and I think that was also a super good ride," Bäckstedt told Cycling Weekly at the finish. "But immediately when I crossed the line here, I was over the moon."

At 39.2 kilometres, it was the longest women’s time trial course in UCI Road World Championships history, and 73% longer than the U23 course on which she won her title last year.

Bäckstedt could have chosen to defend her under-23 time trial title in Canada. Instead, she came to Montréal to test herself against the world's best.

"I didn’t know what to expect in a result. I could’ve been anywhere from the win to top 10," she said. "And to come away with second… I felt strong on the bike, which was really a positive thing."

For a while, gold was in reach. Bäckstedt led through the first two intermediate checks, giving fans at home a lot to cheer for.

"That's what I'm here for, right?" Bäckstedt said with a laugh.

"In the first half, when I heard the first time check, I was thinking, 'Okay, maybe it’s possible'," she admitted.

Bäckstedt knew, however, what Reusser could do on the faster second half of the course, and sure enough, the Swiss powerhouse turned the tide as the finish crept closer.

"I knew that in the flat parts she would bring a lot of time back on me, and she did. So, yeah, massive respect," Bäckstedt said.

Speaking to Cycling Weekly ahead of the race, she'd said that the time trial was her "moment to show what I can do."

And that's exactly what she did.

The silver medal offered an emphatic validation for Bäckstedt’s decision to leave the under-23 competition behind, and announced her as a serious competitor in this discipline for seasons ahead.

All in all, Bäckstedt described the race as "painful" but also "quite fun."

Attention now turns to the road race, where she will be one of Great Britain’s leaders. Alongside the confidence from silver, the time trial offered useful experience of tackling the finishing climb with tired legs.

"It’s not quite simulating the feeling after 180K, but it’s giving somewhat of a feeling," she said.

In the days to follow, Bäckstedt will receive some massages, do some rides as well as some final interval work. But first: coffee.

"I'm gonna go and get a coffee, put my legs up, get some good food," she said in closing.

Marlen Reusser defended her elite women’s time-trial title with a measured effort over the 39.2km course in Montréal, overcoming a spirited Zoe Bäckstedt, who finished an impressive second place on her senior Worlds debut.

Briton Bäckstedt led through the first two intermediate checks before the experienced Swiss rider turned the tide on the young pretender, winning in a time of 50:24, 40 seconds ahead.

Germany’s Franziska Koch finished in third place ahead of Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy) and Cédrine Kerbaol (France)

Reusser paced her time-trial to perfection, defending the title she won last year in Kigali, Rwanda, with an average speed just shy of 47km/h.

On a flat course, Reusser powered over the long, straight sections, but held something back for a tricky last kilometre which featured a tough drag to the line. The Swiss put almost 30 seconds into Bäckstedt at the very end.

Reusser was delighted to take the win, especially as the race took place on her 35th birthday.

"It's a good present. I also thought, if I win or not, anyway I have something to celebrate," the Movistar rider said afterwards.

She commented on the length of the course, which was around double the distance of any other time-trial in the WorldTour this season. Despite her experience, Reusser was unclear on how to pace her effort.

"It made me really nervous. On one hand I really was looking forward to it because it has so many challenges, technical aspects, which makes it much more interesting to ride," she said.

"But from the side of pacing and understanding how fast you should go and how you should also cope with these challenges on the way, I was really nervous and I wasn't really sure because we don't have time trials like this often."

"Until an hour ago I was not 100% sure and also on the course I was not 100% sure," Reusser added.

Last off the start-ramp, Reusser came into the race as the favourite to retain her title. However, she said that she didn't feel pressure.

"I always tell myself there is no pressure. [Winning] should be something that is so difficult each time, no matter if you won before or not. It's a challenge each time again.

"It's always the same pressure because I think many of us are here to win and we do a lot and especially many people around us do a lot...We shouldn't have the pressure because it's sport. It's about trying to win and fighting."

How it Happened

The elite women’s time-trial kicked off the 99th UCI Road World Championships in Montréal, with a 39.2km flat and quite technical course that started and finished at Avenue du Parc.

45 riders representing 34 nations took to the start-line, ranging from the world’s most proficient time-triallists to those proudly representing their nations, but some way short of the level required to challenge for the rainbow jersey.

After the early riders had concluded their runs, it was the USA’s Taylor Knibb who set the first time of consequence, completing the course in 52:43, more than three minutes faster than everyone else by that point. However, the big hitters already on the road behind.

Lotte Claes (Belgium) improved on Knibb’s time. Then, Polish rider Dominka Włodarczyk set the first time that would eventually climb into the top-10. British rider Anna Morris came over the line shortly after, eventually finishing in 16th with a time of 53:21.

Further down the course, the favourites had started. Bäckstedt pipped Kerbaol at the first check. Reigning champion Reusser couldn’t match the young Brit, and trailed by ten seconds back in fifth, while Demi Vollering (Netherlands) was off the pace 34 seconds behind and would eventually finish eighth.

Germany’s Koch finished strongly to put in the first time that would challenge for the medals, taking more than a minute on leader Włodarczyk, finishing in 51:09.

Bäckstedt was six seconds ahead of Koch at the second time check and seven ahead of Kerbaol. Behind the Brit, Vollering was 58 seconds down, but Reusser had reduced her deficit to two seconds after 21.9km had been completed.

The Briton extended her lead over Koch slightly at the third check, moving eight seconds ahead.

However, at the 29km mark, Reusser had turned the tables, moving 13 seconds ahead of Bäckstedt and 22 in front of Koch.

The Swiss powered through the final section to win her second world title by 40 seconds, as Bäckstedt and Koch took the final steps on the podium.

Results

World Championships Elite Women's time-trial - Montréal > Montréal (39.2km)

1. Marlen Reusser, Switzerland, in 50:24
2. Zoe Bäckstedt, Great Britain, +40s
3. Franziska Koch, Germany, +45s
4. Elisa Longo Borghini, Italy, +50s
5. Cédrine Kerbaol, France, +1:10
6. Lotte Kopecky, Belgium, +1:47
7. Antonia Niedermaier, Germnay, +1:49
8. Demi Vollering, Netherlands, +1:49
9. Dominika Włodarczyk, Poland, +1:59
10. Vittoria Guazzini, Italy, +2:05

For the next week, 20–27 September, the Canadian city of Montréal will be hosting the 2026 UCI Road World Championships. I’ve just been to visit, scoping out Québec’s biggest city before the best cyclists on the planet (well, those that aren’t injured) arrive in town and turn everything on its head.

So, whether you’re visiting to watch the worlds, or spectating from afar, here are a dozen things you should know about Montréal.

1. This isn’t the first time the UCI Road World Championships has been staged in Montréal – the city also hosted the Worlds back in 1974, which was an extra significant event because it was the first time the prestigious championships had been held outside of Europe. That year Eddy Merckx took the rainbow jersey, completing a Triple Crown (having already won the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France that year.

2. The name of the city derives from the volcanic hill that towers over it, Mount Royal, around the flanks of which the 2026 World Championships course wends. When the worlds isn’t happening here, these same roads and various gravel tracks that spin off them are popular with local riders. The first European to climb to the summit, led by local First Nation people, was Jacques Cartier du Couvreur on 2 October 1535, and it was he who called the peak Mont-Royal, from which the city of Montréal took its name.

3. Montréal was officially founded on 17 May 1642, making the city considerably older than the country of Canada, which only came into being on 1 July 1867.

4. The streetscape of Montréal is covered in spectacular graffiti and giant murals, including – until very recently – one depicting Hugo Houle, the second Canadian and first Quebecer to win a stage of the Tour de France, dedicating his 2022 victory to his brother, Pierrik, who was killed in 2012 by a hit-and-run driver. But, on the very eve of the Worlds coming to Quebec, the painting of Houle has controversially been replaced by one of fellow Canadian cyclist Michael Woods (who is from Ontario) celebrating his 2024 Vuelta a España stage win. The mural is on the side of a building owned by Sylvan Adams, the Israeli-Canadian owner of the Israel-Premier Tech team both men rode for.

5. The best bar food in Montréal is a dish called poutine, which is basically chips in gravy with spring onions and cheese curds – it’s not the prettiest meal in the world, but it’s delicious, goes well with the equally wonderful local IPAs and is brilliant for carb-loading if you’re going cycling (although we doubt Wout van Aert or Demi Vollering will be scoffing too much of it the night before their big rides).

6. Also, bagels. Montréal is famous for its world-class bagels, especially Fairmount Bagels, baked in wood-fired ovens in the funky suburb of Le Plateau, beneath Mont-Royal. These are the best post-ride feast imaginable.

7. Protected bike lanes spider all around the streets of Montréal, including some Copenhagen-style ones, there are dedicated bike streets and the city has an excellent shared-bike system called BIXI. I also found drivers to be disarmingly polite compared to those in most other cities – perhaps because of this campaign about road-crossing awareness that ran a few years ago.

8. Like Manhattan, Montréal is an island. The city is surrounded on all sides by the waters of the magnificent St Lawrence River which, further downstream, opens up into the immense Gulf of St Lawrence.

9. You can spot black squirrels in Montréal and the city is also home to bin-raiding racoons and cheeky chipmunks, which can be seen around Mount Royal, in Parc Jean-Drapeau and various other green spaces.

10. Over 30km of subterranean tunnels burrow beneath the surface of Montréal, so you can navigate the city in comfort even in mid-winter, when temperatures can plummet to -20°C. Sadly, cycling is not allowed in these underground passageways.

11. One of the most popular places for visiting cyclists to explore is Île Notre-Dame, a small island in the St Lawrence River reached via a bridge from Montréal, where you can ride around the track of the Formula 1 Grand Prix circuit, which is named after Gilles Villeneuve, a Canadian racing legend who was killed during the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix.

12. Montréal is sometimes known as the City of Saints, because of its many Catholic churches and cathedrals. But it’s also known as the City of Sin, because people flocked here for boozy weekends during the Prohibition era in the United States.

It was just days ago that Riley Sheehan was on his way back to Europe after a block of North American racing. After a fourth-place finish at the revamped Philadelphia Cycling Classic, 25th at GP Cycliste de Québec and a 14th-place finish at GP Cycliste de Montréal, the 26-year-old Coloradan left happy.

The Canadian races had been his favourite races all year, he wrote on Instagram, adding: "Really had a good time ripping it around the two cities and suffering all the way to the line. Looking forward to coming back already."

Well, he got his wish sooner than expected.

Sheehan received a last-minute call-up after Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) withdrew with illness, USA Cycling confirmed to Cycling Weekly on Friday.

"Neilson has withdrawn due to illness, so the spot goes to Riley Sheehan, the first reserve named during the selection process," USA Cycling stated.

The withdrawal is yet another setback in a difficult year for Powless, who missed most of the season’s racing due to knee surgery. He returned to racing at July’s Tour of Austria, and claimed a promising win on stage three.

Sheehan, meanwhile, has built a strong case for selection. The NSN rider won May’s Circuit de Wallonie, his first victory since his breakthrough at Paris-Tours in 2023. He then added another win in August’s Czech Tour. And his recent North American results show his carrying great form into the World Championships.

His initial omission from Team USA’s roster did not pass quietly. In a since-deleted post on X, Sheehan questioned the selectors’ decision to leave out riders who had been winning races. He then told our sister site, Cyclingnews, that he was disappointed and confused as he believed he "could have been a really vital asset" to the American team.

Now he’ll get to prove his worth after all, in joining a very strong American team in Canada.

In Montréal, Team USA will be led by Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek), the 2019 junior road world champion, who’s coming off a very strong second half of the season. He claimed his third U.S. national road race title in June and was again awarded the Best Teammate award at the Tour de France, in which he finished in 18th place. During the block of North American racing, he finished 9th at the Philadelphia Cycling Classic, fifth at the GP Cycliste de Québec and in fourth place at GP Cycliste de Montréal.

Team USA has a potential second leader in Brandon McNulty (UAE Emirates XRG), who’s historically done well at the GP de Montréal races, taking the win last year and finishing third just last week.

Completing the eight-man roster are Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike), Kevin Vermaerke (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Sean Quinn (EF Education-EasyPost), Artem Shmidt (Netcompany INEOS) and Larry Warbasse (Tudor Pro Cycling).

The elite men’s road race takes place on Sunday, September 27, covering approximately 273 kilometres. Starting in Brossard, the route heads towards Montréal before tackling 12 laps of the 13.4-kilometre Mount Royal circuit, with more than 3,700 metres of climbing across the day.

In Canada, Zoe Bäckstedt could have returned to the UCI World Championships to defend her under-23 time trial title. Instead, the 21-year-old Welshwoman has come to Montréal to find out how far she can go against the elites.

Speaking after a training ride in Montréal, Bäckstedt was clear about the decision, acknowledging both the freedom of approaching her first elite road Worlds without the expectation of another U23 title and the challenge ahead.

"Honestly, I think it was time for it," she said. "I think the results I've had this season prove that I'm good enough to do the elites. I think it's the right decision for me to take myself to the elites [and] to make that decision myself."

She had experienced something similar at this winter’s cyclo-cross Worlds, where stepping up after a season disrupted by a broken wrist relieved the pressure to defend her U23 crown. She now carries some of that freedom into Montréal, with a season’s worth of results to back up her ambition.

Her results against the clock this season include victory in the opening time trial at the Vuelta a Extremadura, a successful defence of her British elite title, and wins in both the prologue and time trial on her way to another overall victory at the Baloise Ladies Tour.

With her Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift debut came the opportunity to test herself against top-tier competition. In Dijon, Bäckstedt finished fourth, behind winner Marlen Reusser (Switzerland / Movistar), surprise runner-up Lieke Nooijen (The Netherlands / Visma - Lease a Bike) and Demi Vollering (The Netherlands / FDJ-Suez). She proved she could hold her own against the world’s best, even if missing the podium initially made that difficult to appreciate.

"I would say the Tour was a good bit of confidence for me," she said. "Don't get me wrong, in the first hour after the race, I was quite disappointed to miss out on the podium."

That frustration has since become motivation, giving her "a little bit of a drive to try and do some good training in the last few weeks and come here with the best shape that I could."

The preparation itself has remained familiar, however. Bäckstedt has added a few longer efforts to account for the duration of the Elite time trial, while keeping faith with the routine that brought her to the Tour in competitive shape.

Despite making her debut in the elite category, it’s no stretch to count her among Sunday’s favourites, though referencing her commanding U23 victory in Kigali would be misleading.

Bäckstedt was quick to remark that her winning margin of almost two minutes came against a different level of competition and on a different circuit from the elite race.

Asked what separates her from other favourites such as Reusser and Vollering, she points to the years they have spent learning their craft.

"I think honestly the main thing is just experience," she said. "I’ve not had so many years in the pro peloton doing time trials, doing all of these different races, racing quite a big calendar. I've not had that really until this season."

Their advantage, she explained, also lies in having encountered more of the variations a time trial can offer: climbs, flat roads and different wind conditions. Bäckstedt is still accumulating those experiences, even as her results place her in contention.

A win or podium would be welcome, but she has not made either a condition of a successful elite debut.

"I would love to come here to win or even to podium. I think that would also be a really good result," she said. "But I'm still under 23. I could still race the under-23 race, so I'm coming in with no pressure to do anything. It's just: take it as your first elite Worlds, see what you can do, and build on it for next year."

Her performances this season have also earned her a prominent role on Great Britain’s road race squad.

"I believe I'm one of the leaders for the road race after my performance at nationals and at the Tour. They've given me a lot of support in that," she said. "And I think it can be a good road race for me as well."

The question is how she will fare over the repeated climbs on the Montréal circuit, and how aggressively the race is ridden. A steadier opening could allow her to conserve enough energy to remain in contention late on, she argued. But if the attacks begin as soon as the peloton reaches the circuit, she expects a much harder task.

Her approach will involve saving what energy she can and adapting as the race develops. The support around her will matter also, particularly with no race radios to relay information or instructions.

Bäckstedt will be joined on the road by Anna Henderson (Lidl-Trek), Flora Perkins (Fenix-Premier Tech), Lauren Dickson (FDJ United-Suez), Pfeiffer Georgi (Team Picnic PostNL).

Her priority, however, remains the race against the clock.

"I think the time trial will always be my main goal," she said. "It’s my moment to show what I can do."

Dates: 20 - 27 September 2026
Location: Montreal, Canada
No. of events: 13
TV Coverage: TNT/Discovery+, BBC (UK), FloBikes (US and Canada), Stan Sport (Aus)
Official website: www.montreal2026.org

There aren't many bike races with enough cachet to keep the very best riders on the planet fully focused all the way to the very end of a season that kicks off in January and tests them all year. The UCI Road World Championships, however, is one of those races. The lure of the rainbow jersey, beautiful and iconic that it is, is far too strong for anyone who thinks they have the remotest chance of victory to pass up. And besides, in a day job full of transient trade teams, representing your country remains the pinnacle for many.

This year the event returns to North America for the first time since 2015, when it was held in Richmond, USA. The French-Canadian city of Montreal is the host this time, with all of the road races using a well tested city-centre course, the heart of which many of the riders, as well as the fans, will be familiar with from the annual Grand Prix de la Montréal. There are eight days of racing to look forward to, with a range of riders from junior, through under-23 and elite WorldTour stars all competing, first in the time trial events and then the road races, which culminate in what should be a brace of epic elite contests on the second weekend.

2026 UCI Road World Championships race schedule

Medal table

2026 UCI Road World Championships: Road race riders to watch

Tom Pidcock
Great Britain
27
Previous best: 6th, 2021

Just weeks after sealing a second career Worlds mountain bike title, Tom Pidcock is back on the road and on a mission to make history – to follow in the footsteps of Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, and become the first man to be crowned World Champion at mountain biking, cyclo-cross, and on the road. For many years we’ve known Pidcock to be one of the great multidisciplinarians in cycling’s history, but he’s yet to quite scale the great heights he has at the other two on the road, and that’s the title he needs to complete the set.

He’s due a big win on the road, having not won at World Tour level for almost 18 months, and there’s reason to believe that this year’s road Worlds might be the one. The form is promising, with a victory in his first race (GP Industria & Artigianato) back on the road since the Tour de France, and two top tens at the GP Québec and Montréal. The latter using a very similar course to the world champs.

Pidcock will be supported by Adam Yates, Fred Wright, Oscar Onley, James Shaw, Mark Donovan and Finlay Pickering

Isaac del Toro
Mexico, 22
Previous best: 7th, 2025

The only man to have won more races than Isaac del Toro since the start of last season is his trade teammate Tadej Pogačar, and the 22-year-old Mexican has rapidly established himself as one of the peloton’s elite. He has everything it takes to excel on a course like Montréal - proven by his win at the GP last weekend. With an explosive turn of speed and excellent climbing ability, the only question mark is whether his Mexican team of inexperienced, non-World Tour riders is strong enough to support him. If they can get him deep into the race with minimal energy expended, he has a great chance of becoming the first ever Latin American rider to win a World road race medal.

Paul Seixas
France, 20
Previous best: 13th, 2025

Set to compete a mere three days after his 20th birthday, if Paul Seixas wins in Montreal, he would become the youngest ever road world champion. The Frenchman has already made a mockery of conventional wisdom concerning what’s possible for so young a man to achieve, this season finishing second at both Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Strade Bianche behind Tadej Pogačar, and placing fourth on a Tour a France debut many believed he wasn’t ready for. The French have already masterminded two golds and a silver since the 2020 Worlds, plus an Olympic silver and bronze, and have a genuine shot at gold with Seixas.

Wout van Aert
Belgium, 32
Previous best: 2nd, 2020, 2023

Belgium will be the strongest team at the Worlds, and once again led by the deadly duo of Wout van Aert and Remco Evenepoel. The pair haven’t always got on swimmingly, but have developed their relationship over the years to combine with devastating effect, Van Aert playing a key role in Evenepoel’s golds at the 2022 Worlds and 2024 Olympics. Is this the turn of two-time silver-medallist Van Aert? Given the parcours, his recent fitness and winning form at the Vuelta, the absence of Tadej Pogačar, and the fact he’s now 32 years old, you sense this might be the best chance he gets.

Demi Vollering
Netherlands, 29
Previous best: 2nd 2023

When Demi Vollering lines up in Montreal, she has the chance to elevate what has already been an exceptional season to one of the all-time greats in cycling history. Having cleaned up in the Spring Classics, where she won, among others, the Tour of Flanders and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Vollering went on to claim both the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France titles, meaning she now has a shot at becoming only the fifth person and second woman (following Annemiek Van Vleuten four years ago) to win the Triple Crown.

The Worlds have never been the happiest of hunting grounds for Vollering, whose only medal in the road race came in 2023 when she was second behind Lotte Kopecky. Her frustrations have been part of a lack of cohesion in the whole Dutch squad, which, despite invariably boasting the most talented line-up, are now in danger of going four editions without a gold medal, which would be their longest streak since 2010. They’ve frequently let themselves down by failing to work as a team and playing too many games, but this year, given the parcours and the season she’s had, the tactics should be simple: all rally behind delivering Vollering gold.

Elisa Longo Borgini
Italy, 34
Previous best: 3rd, 2012, 2020, 2024

A rainbow jersey is threatening to become the white whale in the otherwise illustrious career of Elisa Longo Borghini. Though the 34-year-old has won the Tour of Flanders, Strade Bianche, Paris-Roubaix and the Giro d’Italia, and come home with a bronze medal three times, a Worlds gold medal remains elusive, and she’ll line up in Montreal for a 15th attempt. Backing her will be a strong Italian team, and the punchy terrain is in her favour, while she seemed to put the fitness problems that have plagued her for much of the season behind her at the Tour de France to make the podium.

Kim Le Court
Mauritius, 30
Previous best: 8th, 2025

Few if any riders competing in Montreal can claim to be in the running for an achievement that would not be the biggest for their nation in cycling, but of any sport. However, victory for Mauritian Kim Le Court would arguably be that. She’s already put the Indian Ocean archipelago on the map by wearing the yellow jersey at the Tour and winning Liège-Bastogne-Liège, and should excel on this route, where her punchy accelerations and quick finish will be lethal weapons. She’ll lack support from her team, but brings great form to the race having won the Tour of Britain.

2026 UCI Road World Championships: Road race routes

If you're a fan of the annual GP Montréal men's WorldTour race, much of the elite Worlds races are going to look very familiar. That's because they will use the same Mount Royal course in the Quebecois city centre as the annual Canadian one-dayer.

It's a lumpy 13.4km circuit around Mount Royal Park, which the women will tackle eight times, the men 12. Unlike the GP Montréal though, which was held last weekend, the Worlds courses have a significant lead-in before beginning the first full lap of Mount Royal. This amounts to around 60km for the women, 112km for the men and will bolster the full course distances to 180km and 273km respectively.

That is the longest ever women's Worlds by some margin, following a UCI rule change last year allowing longer races for women.

The lead-in starts just across the city's St Lawrence river in Brossard and loops north and back before crossing the water and meeting the finishing circuit. It's almost pan-flat, with all of the considerable climbing metres to be done in the confines of Mount Royal Park. The only exception to this is the small climb of Mont Saint Hilaire, tackled by the men halfway through their lead-in.

The total ascent for both men's and women's is significant, with the women climbing 2,570m and the men, 3,808m – both comparable to a day in the mountains on a Grand Tour. But this is a different proposition, with the constant rising and falling meaning a constant on/off pressure that will slowly sap even the strongest of legs.

There are four of those 'rises and falls' in Mount Royal Park, the biggest being the Voie Camillien Houde, at the foot of which the race will finish. This will do much of the damage, but the smaller rises of the Chemin de Polytechnique, Avenue Pagnuelo and Avenue du Parc, rising to the finish, will undoubtedly sap the legs like only a major one-day race can.

It's a course where climbers and big engines meet in the middle, meaning there is a wide spread of riders who will feel they have a chance to medal.

2026 UCI Road World Championships: Time trial riders to watch

Marlen Reusser
Switzerland, 34
Previous best: 1st, 2025

It’s serendipitous, really, that Marlen Reusser’s 35th birthday falls on the day of the time trial, but what better way to celebrate than defending her 2025 crown?

The Swiss rider is undoubtedly the time trial favourite in Montreal. She’s won six of the last seven individual time trials she has competed in, and came second in the other, and only because it was all uphill. Victory in Canada would cap a fine season for Reusser, who had stitches in her knee after crashing in February, but went on to wear yellow for three days at the Tour de France Femmes, after she won the TT in Dijon on stage four. It wasn’t quite a crushing margin, just four seconds over Lieke Nooijen, but it didn’t need to be, she wins time trials. For such a dominant time trialist, it is odd, then, that the Swiss has only ever won one world title, after four European crowns; that has partly been down to misfortune and illness, with Reusser missing out on her home Worlds in 2024 due to a long-term virus.

Zoe Bäckstedt
Great Britain, 21
Previous best: n/a

She won the junior time trial world title in 2022, the under-23 one in 2025, and now Zoe Bäckstedt is looking to complete the set with her first elite rainbow jersey.

The 21-year-old proved her pedigree against the world’s best when she finished fourth in August’s Tour de France Femmes time trial, won by Marlen Reusser. That result came after four victories against the clock this season, including the national title at home in Wales. Realistically, a podium place would be impressive for Bäckstedt. Against a rider as dominant as Reusser, second might feel like a victory.

Remco Evenepoel
Belgium, 26
Previous best: 1st, 2023,24,25

Perhaps the greatest time triallist of all time, Remco Evenepoel is going for his fourth world title in a row, and only a fool would bet against him. He's a major contender for the road race too.

The Belgian comes into this year’s championships at the end of what has been one of the strongest seasons so far in his career. He has picked up major results all the way through; after winning the Amstel Gold Race in April, he went on to place second at the Tour de France, taking back to back stage victories along the way, including in the stage 16 time trial to Thonon les Bains, where he dished out a solid beating of Tadej Pogačar, putting 28 seconds into the Slovenian over 26.1 rolling kilometres. Evenepoel, who is still just 26, then went on to win the San Sebastian Classic in Spain, for the fourth time.

In a men's cycling landscape so heavily dominated by the brilliance of Pogačar, Evenepoel is a rare beast in that, when it comes to time trials at least, the Belgian can be expected to prevail when the pair go head to head. He has made the discipline his own and can be expected to win on anything from hilly to flat courses. The Montreal course falls into the latter category – except perhaps, for the small rise up Avenue de Parc in the final two kilometres.

Filippo Ganna
Italy, 30
Previous best: 1st, 2020,21

Say the name Filippo Ganna, and immediately time trialling springs to mind. There is very little that the affable Italian has yet to win in the discipline. A former double world champion, he is also a perennial winner of Grand Tour TTs, and even holds the World Hour record – one of the most prestigious accolades a rider can pick up against the watch. However, unlike his rival – nemesis, even – Remco Evenepoel, he has yet to win an Olympic gold, something the Belgian beat him to last time out in Paris.

There will be those who point out that it has been five years since Ganna last won a time trial rainbow jersey, with Evenepoel since forcing him down the pecking order. He has come close to reclaiming the title more than once, but the Belgian has always been standing in his way, pipping him into second place at the Worlds in 2023 and 2024. However, this year’s route offers a chance for Ganna to get his own back; there are no significant climbs, and the long stretches on highways are ideal for his strong, rangey build. It's almost as tailor-made for Ganna as a designer suit out of Milan.

The Italian has won five times this season, four of which came against the clock. At the Giro d’Italia, he set a new speed record for a Grand Tour time trial over 40km, barrelling at an average of almost 55kph. This course may be a few hundred metres shorter, but it suits him nonetheless.

2026 UCI Road World Championships: Time trial routes

For the first time in four years, both the elite women and men will race the same distance in the individual time trials at the UCI World Championships. Now, though, the organisers have decided to go longer, nudging the number of kilometres from 34.2 in Wollongong, Australia in 2022 to 39.2 in Montreal – it’s the longest course the women have ever faced since time trialling was introduced to the championships in 1994.

The elite women’s race against the clock once again acts as the curtain raiser, and will give us a first look at the route. Starting outside the Percival Molson Memorial Stadium, home to the Montreal Alouettes football team (that’s Canadian football, not soccer), the course tips downhill through the city’s old town and into the port. The riders will then head south on Highway 10 along the bank of the St. Lawrence River, before crossing over the narrow ‘Ice Control Structure’, a bridge built in 1965 to control the flow of ice blocks – temperatures may be in their mid-teens in Montreal in September, but they can drop to around -25°C in the depth of winter.

From kilometre 13, the next 3km north along the river come on a canal path that, unless its been relaid with tarmac, will give the riders an unwelcome gravel stint. This cramped road leads into the most technical part of the course: a twisting 8km loop around the Gilles Villeneuve motor racing circuit, with kinks and U-turns that will slow the most powerful riders down to a grind.

After tracing back up through the port, the course reaches its finale with its only significant climb. Unfortunately for the riders, this comes at the very end, when their energy reserves will be at their lowest. The 2km drag isn’t the steepest, barely eking over 7%, but as it creeps up to the line beyond the football stadium, it will feel like an eternity.

It’s the same finish for all the time trials, including the junior, under-23 and mixed relay events. The latter sees three men and three women take on a 40.6km course, each trio completing 20.3km.

Tom Pidcock, Lauren Dickson and Zoe Bäckstedt will lead the British charge for rainbow glory at the UCI Road Cycling World Championships in Montréal, it was announced on Tuesday.

British Cycling revealed a 36-rider squad for the elite, under-23 and junior time trials and road races in Canada, with the Worlds beginning this Sunday, with the elite individual time trials.

There will be genuine hope for medals, with Pidcock in form, with two top 10 finishes at the GPs de Québec and Montréal last weekend, after he won the MTB Worlds earlier this month. He is aiming to win the elite men's road race, which takes place 27 September, with able support from Oscar Onley, recently best young rider at the Vuelta a España, and Adam Yates, a previous winner of the GP de Montréal.

Bäckstedt is currently one of the best time triallists in the world, winning four this season; the former under-23 and junior TT world champion will be aiming to at least podium. She will be joined in the road race by Dickson, who won her first pro race last weekend, stage four of the Faun Tour Femmes. The 26-year-old has impressed in her first full season at Women's WorldTour level, finishing third overall at Itzulia, and coming close to the top 10 at the Giro d'Italia Women.

The squad for the under-23 women's race, an individual event for a second year, includes Cat Ferguson, who hasn't raced since breaking her ankle at the Giro; the former junior world champion is part of a team which also includes Imogen Wolff.

Meanwhile, the elite men's time trial will be raced by two riders who podiumed in TTs at the recent Vuelta a España: Callum Thornley and Ethan Hayter.

"The road world championships are always one of the standout events in the cycling calendar, and we are excited to return with a highly competitive Great Britain Cycling Team squad," Stephen Park, GBCT performance director, said.

"This squad showcases the very best of British road racing, at a time when more British riders are making their mark across Europe and on the wider international stage than ever before. That progress is testament to the programmes and pathways we have in place, as well as the fierce domestic competition that continues to drive our pipeline of talent.

"We’re proud of the balance in this squad, from established world-class performers to riders taking the next step in their development, and we’re looking forward to seeing them test themselves against the very best in Montreal."

Full GB lineup for UCI Road World Championships 2026

Elite Men
Oscar Onley
Tom Pidcock
Finlay Pickering
Adam Yates
Fred Wright
Mark Donovan
James Shaw
Callum Thornley (TT)
Ethan Hayter (TT)

Elite Women
Anna Henderson
Anna Morris (TT)
Flora Perkins
Lauren Dickson
Pfeiffer Georgi
Zoe Bäckstedt (TT)

U23 Men
Ben Wiggins
Mattie Dodd
Elliot Rowe
Will Smith
Jacob Bush

U23 Women
Awen Roberts
Abi Miller
Cat Ferguson
Imogen Wolff
Morven Yeoman

Junior Men
Finlay Storrie
Evander Wishart
Leon Atkins
Dexter Townsend
Gus Dutton

Junior Women
Aalia Clay
Gabriella McHugh
Peggy Knox
Melanie Rowe
Zoe Roche

The elite road races are the culmination of both the week of racing at the UCI Road World Championships and the 2025 season. Yes, there are a few races still to take place, most notably Il Lombardia for the men, but this weekend’s races are what many riders will have focused the second half of their seasons on. For many, it is their last serious competitive outing of the year.

So who are the contenders for the famous rainbow bands? Who will get to wear the distinctive white jersey with the five coloured bands across their chest throughout 2026, and grapple with the decision whether or not to pair it with white shorts? We run through the route and contenders for both races.

Women’s Elite Road Race route details

Women’s road race, key facts
Where: Kigali, Rwanda
When: Saturday, September 24
Distance: 164.6km
Elevation: 3,350m
Circuits: 11
Circuit length: 14.96km
Starters: 106
Nations: 43
Defending champion: Lotte Kopecky (not riding)
Startlist for the Women's Elite road race

The route for the elite women’s race is a city centre-based course comprising of 11 laps of a 14.96km circuit, resulting in a 164.6km total length. The women will climb 3,350m of elevation throughout the race, all of which sits at between 1,400m and 1,500m above sea level.

These numbers are likely to result in an attritional race that will favour the climbers. Most significantly, the finish line comes just over the top of the cobbled climb of the Côte de Kimihurura, which you will have seen if you’ve been watching the time trials.

Although not the only climb on the circuit, and only 1.3km long at just 6.3%, the cobbles are severe enough to make this the decisive point in the route. Tackled 11 times, and topping out just a few metres before the finish line, this short stretch of road will determine tactics throughout.

Positioning coming into the cobbles will be key: there’s a fast run-in on a wide road where riders will struggle to move up, then a tight left turn scrubbing off everyone’s speed. Splits will then occur in the bunch almost every time up it. Ability wise, the field is one of the most diverse we’ve ever seen with riders like Demi Vollering and Pauline Ferrand-Prevot and others from smaller nations who won’t have competed in the WorldTour before.

Anyone with a realistic hope of winning will have to hold their position at the front of the bunch, and have the power to ride the cobbles in the saddle, along the climbing ability to deal with the accumulative fatigue that will come from the persistent climbing.

Women’s Elite World Championship road race contenders

Demi Vollering
Netherlands | 28
UCI rank: 22025
wins: 9
CW Rating 5/5
Throughout the first half of the year, Demi Vollering was the rider to beat, racking up wins at stage race after stage race while also performing in the one-day classics. A win at Strade Bianche Donne (a solid measure of ability on Kigali’s parcours) and was in the top four at Omloop Nieuwsblad, Milan-San Remo, Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. She is therefore the standout favourite for the race. But this is no foregone conlusion. Vollering hasn’t won a race since early June and the Volta a Catalunya Femenina. Newly minted TT world champ Marlen Reusser narrowly beat her at the Tour de Suisse, then Pauline Ferrand Prevot comprehensively beat her at the Tour de France Femmes, Vollering’s main aim of the season. Vollering has all the attributes to win in Rwanda, if she doesn’t, the world champs risk becoming something of a bogey race for her - she is yet to win a senior world title. If ever there was a course to suit her, it’s this one.

Pauline Ferrand-Prévot
France | 33
UCI rank: 12
2025 wins: 4
CW Rating 5/5
Don’t let the low win count or lowly UCI ranking fool you; the Frenchwoman's return to road racing in 2025 has been nothing short of spectacular. With years of experience behind her, and several years racing mountain bikes in which a rider spends more time training and focusing on fewer races, Ferrand Prevot came back to the road scene with very specific targets. And nailed them. An early win at Paris-Roubaix was a good start although as the race can be something of a lottery, was not taken as a sign of things to come. But then, at the Tour de France Femmes she was unstoppable. Biding her time until the race hit the mountains and making her move in a pre planned attack that worked wonders. The 2014 road world champion knows how to focus, and knows how to win world titles - she has 15 of them under her belt.

Kim Le Court-Pinaar
Mauritius | 29
UCI rank: 13
2025 wins: 5
CW Rating ⅘
2025 has been a breakthrough year for the Mauritian rider with a win and spell in the yellow jersey at the Tour de France Femmes and victory at Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Out of the nine one-day races she’s completed this year, she has only finished outside the top ten in two of them. While not a pure climber, her results at the Ardennes classics prove she’s a contender.

Anna Van der Breggan
Netherlands | 35
UCI rank 17
2025 wins: 1
CW Rating 3/5
The two time winner of this title has had a solid return to the peloton this year. After retiring at the end of the 2021 season, van der Breggen spent three years working as a Directeur Sportif for SD Worx Protime. She’s been solid all year but not quite up to the level of Vollering, Ferrand-Prevot or Lotte Kopecky. She is however an essential part of the always strong Dutch team, that has several options. For them, team cohesion will be as influential as the cobbles of the Côte de Kimihurura

Kasia Niewiadoma
Poland | 30
UCI rank: 15
2025 wins: 1
CW Rating 3/5
Just one win this year at her national championships for the 2024 Tour de France Femmes winner, but if you’re looking for a consistent rider, with experience, look no further. In both individual stages at stage races and one-day events, Niewiadoma is rarely out of the top ten, and only occasionally out of the top 20. Expect to see her near the front all day, riding off the back of the stronger teams.

Elisa Longo Borghini
Italy | 33
UCI rank: 3
2025 wins: 7
CW Rating 3/5
The winner of this year’s Giro d’Italia women will lead the Italian team that lacks strength in depth. Not a natural climb, Longo Borghini undoubtedly has the power to ride the cobbles of the Côte de Kimihurura and the experience to hold an optimal position in the bunch throughout. Pulling out of the Tour de France Femmes after two stages left her without much racing this summer, but a one-day win in France at the end of August suggests she is building back up for the end of the season.

Others to watch

Winning the time trial in decisive fashion means Marlen Reusser (Switzerland) will be a marked woman. Not known for her climbing, and with few one-day results in the last two seasons, Reusser has however triumphed at the Tour de Suisse Women and finished second at the Giro d’Italia women, two races not known for their flat profiles. If Pauline Ferrand-Prevot missfires, France’s leadership will likely switch to Cédrine Kerbaol, a young climber whose results suggest she’s on a path to bigger things. Part of the silver medal winning team in the Mixed Relay Team Time Trial, she’s clearly in good form. Gernany’s best bet comes in the shape of Liane Lippert. Solid if not spectacular in one-day races, she’s had two solid results in races earlier this month.

Men’s Elite Road Race route details

Men’s road race, key facts
Where: Kigali, Rwanda
When: Sunday, September 25
Distance: 267.5km
Elevation: 5,475m
Circuits: 9 x Local circuit, 1 x Extended, 6 x Local circuit
Circuit length: 14.96km (Local circuit), 42.5km (Extended circuit)
Starters: 165
Nations: 57
Defending champion: Tadej Pogačar (Slovenia)
Startlist for the Men's Elite road race

The men’s road race is the only event at the Worlds to venture out of the centre of Kigali. The route takes the peloton west out through the city centre out to Kamuhanda, but in a break from the normal format, only after they’ve completed nine circuits of the route the other races have used. The ‘Extension circuit’ as it’s referred to is 42.5km long and takes the riders to the top of Mont Kigali, a 5.9km climb that takes the riders to the highest point on the route. From there it’s mainly downhill back to the circuit and five more laps which includes five more ascents of the cobbled Côte de Kimihurura.

Expect a slow start from the peloton, as they cruise through the first two to three hours of the likely six-hour-plus race while a break establishes a lead. The Worlds is often a wearing down process due to it’s length and the first few hours serve to build the fatigue in the riders that then impacts their performance in the final stages. The hilly parcours in Kigali that has the biggest elevation gain of any Worlds road race will likely see the peloton slowly whittled down before it explodes in the final hour.

Men’s Elite World Championship road race contenders

Tadej Pogačar
Slovenia | 26
UCI rank: 1
2025 wins: 15
CW rating 5 / 5
The defending champion will start as favourite, as he does for any race he starts. This year the Slovenian has been as close to unbeatable as any rider has ever been with seemingly comfortable victories at the Tour de France, Tour of Flanders, Liege-Bastogne-Liege and Strade Bianche. But then a few days ago Remco Evenepoel caught him for two-and-a-half minutes in the TT and suddenly there was a glimmer of hope for the rest of the peloton. Was it a rare off day for Pogačar, or has he struggled to regain his form after such an impressive opening six months of the year. Considering his ride at the GP Cycliste Montréal two weeks ago, we’ll go with 'an off day.'

Remco Evenepoel
Belgium | 25
UCI rank:
2025 wins:
CW rating 4 / 5
His performance in the time trial elevated Evenepoel to favourite status as he became the first rider to catch and pass Pogačar. Suddenly pulling out of the Tour de France with a lack of form was a distance memory, and thoughts turn to his solo win at the Wollongong worlds in Australia, 2022. If Evenepoel wants to win, he’ll need to go it alone as few can match his pace setting and aero tuck in a one-on-one chase.

Ben Healy
Ireland | 25
UCI rank: 16
2025 wins: 2
CW rating 3 / 5
If ever there was a race that suits the Irishman's style of road racing, it's the World Championships. Run with smaller teams there is less control in the bunch, meaning riders have to race more on instinct; sniffing out the right move, at the right time, and then riding to their strengths. Although diminutive, Healy can't climb with the likes of Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard, but he excels on tougher routes as he knows how to pace his efforts. His results this year have shown he can mix it with the best in the world when he’s on form.

Tom Pidcock
Great Britain | 26
UCI rank: 8
2025 wins: 5
CW rating: 3 / 5
Pidcock’s fresh start with a new pro team and focus on road racing paid dividends at the Vuelta a España where he finished third, his best performance in a Grand Tour. There was no stage win, but neither did he scrape in at the last minute. He held his podium position through the final week and some of the races toughest stages, suggesting he got to Madrid (or thereabouts as the stage was cancelled) in good form. The key for Pidcock, and all the riders coming out of the Vuelta, is how they balance the fatigue while maintaining form alongside the international travel out to Africa.

Juan Ayuso
Spain | 23
UCI rank: 17
2025 wins: 7
CW rating: 4 / 5
Three stage wins, two of which came from long breaks, means Ayuso is certain to be Spain’s leader in Rwanda. Only 23, Ayuso has been touted as the heir to Pogačar’s throne for some time, but the Spaniard obviously doesn’t want to wait as he recently got himself out of his contract with UAE Team Emirates to join Lidl-Trek for the next four seasons. Ayuso has lived up to the hype this year, with one-day wins back in early March, victory at Tirreno-Adriatico and a solid performance through the first 15 stages of the Giro d’Italia before quitting after getting stung by a bee.

Others to watch

The only rider to beat Tadej Pogačar when going mano-a-mano at the finish line, Denmark’s Mattias Skjelmose will not be allowed to go under the radar in Rwanda. A natural climber, he is well suited to the parcours and has posted solid results in all his races post Tour de France. And that photo-finish win at Amstel ahead of Pog, also saw him take Evenepoel’s scalp. Without Mathieu van der Poel to coalesce around, the Netherlands will likely pin their hopes on double TdF stage winning Thymen Arensmen. He might not be a prolific winner, but he can climb well and manage his efforts - essential over the rolling terrain in Kigali. Julian Alaphilippe has won this title twice, and a win in Canada earlier this month gives a glimmer of hope that he might have one more big win in him, while Britain’s Oscar Onley proved through July that he can climb with the best. Australia has options with the in form Jay Vine and Jai Hindley while the United States will look to Quinn Simmons to get stuck in. Pure climbers lurking in the field included Egan Bernal (Colombia) , Richard Carapaz (Ecuador) and Italy’s Giulio Ciccone.

Lotte Kopecky (Belgium) won the UCI Women's Elite World Championships Road Race with a blistering attack on a ramp around 5.5km from the finish.

She'd looked the strongest rider all day and was a deserved winner. There were times when it looked like she was doing too much, the expectation of being favourite weighing heavy, but she clearly knew what she was doing and it paid off in the end.

The group she left behind included almost all the rest of the best riders who'd taken the start line: this was a group of favourites away from whom the overall favourite eventually – but comprehensively – rode away.

Women's Elite World Championships Road Race: How it happened

The race set off from Loch Lomond with 154.1km to the finish line in Glasgow. The climb of The Crow Road saw many riders – including big names such as Marianne Vos (Netherlands) – dropped.

After a long, hard chase the group came back together not long before the peloton entered the city centre circuit in Glasgow.

During that chase, there were a number of breakaway attempts. One of these included a motivated looking Lizzie Deignan (Great Britain) and had about 40 seconds over the peloton for a while.

That group was caught and others tried, but it was all back together by the time Glasgow came into view. On the lumpy and winding roads that took the riders to the circuit, a select group got a gap over the strung-out peloton but there appeared to be limited cohesion.

With it all back together as the circuits started, the course as much as the riders whittled the numbers down. With the pace on at the front at times, the twisting, turning, lumpy nature of the parcours also counted some riders out as it was near-impossible to get back on after a crash or mechanical.

After a bike change, Annemiek van Vleuten (Netherlands) did make it back on during an early lap, but later Britain's Anna Henderson was brought down in a crash and the resulting delay to get a new bike effectively ended her race. She rode on for a short while but then abandoned.

Elise Chabbey (Switzerland) headed off on her own with around 74km to go and built a lead that peaked around 1:30. For a time it felt like the chase group may have forgotten about her. This appeared to be the case when they caught Elena Cecchini (Italy), who'd been dangling for ages between the leader and the chase, and the pace immediately dropped as if they were now the front of the race.

However, with a bit of looking around, some of the big names started to ride again. The group's numbers reduced over the following laps, with riders such as Kopecky  and Van Vleuten trying to get clear.

There was a short stint where it looked like Van Vleuten would get clear of the group due to its lack of cohesion to bring her back, but they got it together and reached her wheel.

There were attacks and counter-attacks, but all the while Chabbey stayed away on her own. The time gap did eventually start to come down, but arguably due to Chabbey fatiguing rather than the chase group doing the work to close her down.

Kopecky did a lot of work compared to most of the group but none of her early attacks came off and she could not get clear of her key rivals. Until she did.

Van Vleuten accelerated on a climb and while the others were looking that way, her teammate Demi Vollering went on the other side of the road. Kopecky was aware of the threat and jumped on her wheel.

As the chase group was attacking and counter-attacking, Chabbey was caught with around 15km to go. She was away on her own for around 59km, what a ride.

Van Vleuten then punctured and desperately chased back after a bike change, but she didn't see the front of the race again. It soon looked like it might have completely unravelled for the Dutch as Vollering appeared to be fading.

Deignan attacked and took Christina Schweinberger (Austria) with her. Kopecky stayed with Vollering and nearly counted herself out of the race until she realised the danger and crossed the gap to the leaders alone. Reusser had gone earlier and it was her that Kopecky caught first.

That quartet slowed up enough for Vollering to catch her breath and lead her trio back to the front of the race. No sooner had she caught up that Vollering launched her own attack. Kopecky was immediately on her wheel before chasing a counter-attack from Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Denmark), who she swiftly came around.

That pair was together for a short while before Kopecky launched her winning move with around 5.5km to go on a sharp uphill.

Uttrup Ludwig had a gap that looked like it would get her the silver medal but Vollering had other ideas and tried to close her down. Those two went head to head in a sprint and it was the Dutch woman who grabbed second.

Mathieu van der Poel is the new World Champion after crossing the line first in Glasgow. The Dutch rider went solo with 22.4km to go and soon had a gap over the chasing trio of Wout van Aert (Belgium), Tadej Pogacar (Slovenia) and Mads Pedersen (Denmark), who he'd previously been riding with.

Van der Poel won despite sliding out on a corner late on. By then his time gap was enough that he was able to remount and stay ahead. Despite a broken shoe he increased his advantage all the way to the end.

Van Aert attacked late to ride clear to second place, while Pogacar did the sprint of his life to round Pedersen and take third.

UCI World Championships Elite Men's Road Race: How it happened

The early news from the race was not related to the riders but instead saw them halted for around 50 minutes due to a protest.

As we reported at the time, the breakaway had reached a small climb near the Carron Valley Reservoir when the race encountered the blockage. Initial reports suggested that a group of protesters had allegedly glued themselves to the road.

Once the race was up and running again, the nine-man breakaway continued on its way and stayed clear for quite some time.

After the tour of the stunning countryside outside of Glasgow, it was on to the circuit for nearly 11 laps. Each time through the finish line there were fewer and fewer riders still in contention for either the title or to help a teammate towards the podium.

Most riders from the original breakaway were caught with 74.4km to go but Kevin Vanmaerke (USA) and Matthew Dinham (Australia) held on to the elite group that came across to them.

After plenty of attacks and counter-attacks, not to mention a lot of riders being counted out of contention by mechanicals or crashes, an elite group formed at the front of the race.

Mads Pedersen (Denmark), Wout van Aert (Belgium), Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands), Alberto Bettiol (Italy) and Tadej Pogacar (Slovenia) rode on with original breakaway riders Vanmaercke and Dinham.

It wasn't a done deal, however, as a group behind still believed they could close it down – thanks hugely to the efforts of France's Benoit Cosnefroy. The impetus went out of the front group as the chasers came across.

The reduced pace saw a lot of riders getting back on and the group swelled to around 30 riders, before Belgium strung it out again.

With most riders slowing to take a bottle, Bettiol took his chance and charged ahead, pushing his advantage out over 30 seconds at its peak.

While he rode on solo, there was a bit of back and forth with the chase before finally the quartet of Pogacar, Van Aert, Van der Poel and Pedersen dropped the rest – including defending champion Remco Evenepoel – and pushed on into Bettiol's advantage.

Van der Poel launched on a short rise to catch and pass Bettiol with 22.4km to go. The other three looked at each other a bit and Van der Poel pushed on. Pogacar took it up on a winding climb to try and close the gap but couldn't get clear.

As Van der Poel's advantage increased, he had a scare when he went down on a wet corner. He was soon back on his bike, which looked to be functioning alright, but a broken right shoe may have hindered him slightly.

With one lap to go, the lone leader wrenched the remainder of his broken upper Boa dial off of his right shoe and rode on. Van der Poel took it more cautiously on the corners after the crashed but continued to gain time thanks to his determination on the ascents.

There were moves behind from the chasing trio but Van der Poel only ever increased his gap once he was back up from the crash. Away he rode to a well deserved rainbow jersey.

Bettiol just clung on to a top 10 finish.