Men's road race world championships begins
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The gist
The men's elite road race at the 2026 Road World Championships in Montreal started Sunday.
The winner takes the rainbow jersey, with Belgium fielding two top favourites.
Background
The UCI Road World Championships 2026 are being held in Montreal, Canada, returning to North American roads for the first time in more than a decade, with 13 categories from 20-27 September. The eight days of racing opened Sunday 20 September with the elite individual time trials and close on 27 September with the men's elite road race. The men's elite event has 194 entries representing 62 countries, part of a championships expected to feature more than 1,360 athletes from 100 nations.
How it unfolded
- Sep 20, 2026The championships opened in Montreal with the women's elite time trial at 09:00 local and the men's elite time trial at 12:45 local. Defending champion Marlen Reusser of Switzerland won the women's elite individual time trial on her 35th birthday.
- Sep 21, 2026The women's U23 time trial was held at 09:00 local and the men's U23 time trial at 12:00 local.
- Sep 22, 2026The mixed relay team time trial took place at 08:30 local, followed by the men's junior time trial at 12:15 local and the women's junior time trial at 15:15 local.
- Sep 24, 2026The women's U23 road race was held at 09:00 local and the men's junior road race at 13:30 local.
- Sep 25, 2026The men's U23 road race ran at 09:00 local and the women's junior road race at 14:15 local. Slovakia's Richard Riska finished eighth in the men's U23 road race.
- Sep 26, 2026The women's elite road race started at 09:00 local (15:00 CET) and finished at 14:10 local (20:10 CET), covering 180.4 kilometres with eight laps of the Mont Royal Circuit.
- Sep 27, 2026The men's elite road race started at 09:00 local (15:00 CET) and is scheduled to finish at 15:40 local (21:40 CET). The 273.4-kilometre route starts in Brossard, opens with roughly 100 kilometres of predominantly flat terrain, then reaches the Montreal circuit for 12 laps of the Mont Royal Circuit, with the Voie Camilien-Houde as the decisive climb.
Who’s saying what
- Analysts
- Cycling Up To Date lists Remco Evenepoel, Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert as the headline favourites, with Tom Pidcock, Isaac del Toro and French prodigy Paul Seixas also among the major contenders for the world title.
- Analysts
- IDL Pro Cycling notes Belgium has two top favourites in Evenepoel and Van Aert, France is pinning all its hopes on Seixas, Del Toro will be largely on his own alongside his Mexican teammates, and Van der Poel must get the job done for the Netherlands as the sole team leader in Koos Moerenhout's squad.