Demi Vollering (Netherlands) outsprinted Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney to win the elite women's road race at the UCI World Championships, emerging victorious after a failed solo attack and a gripping final lap duel with the Polish rider.

Vollering went away on her own 38km to go, and looked set to take victory from a long-range move, but the unrelenting efforts of Niewiadoma-Phinney and third-place Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy) from a chase group saw her reeled back in before the final 15km.

The Italian tried to go solo, but Vollering showed off her mental resilience as she got back on the front, worked tirelessly to reel back Longo Borghini, then dropped her on the final ascent of the Camillien-Houde to make it a lead duo.

Niewiadoma-Phinney made Vollering do the lion's share of the work on the final lap, before trying to drop her on one of the final kickers, putting the Dutch rider into difficulty, but failing to distance her before the final run to the line.

Longo Borghini and Marlen Reusser (Switzerland) were chasing hard behind, but the victory was going to go to one of the top two riders from the Tour de France Femmes. Niewiadoma-Phinney went first with 200 metres to go, but Vollering just kept sprinting, having led things out, with the Polish rider running out of steam first before the line and seeing the victory go to her big rival.

"I think I can still not believe it. I worked so hard towards this goal, and it takes guts to truly believe in it with your whole heart, and together a team around you with such strong girls, and they all sacrifice for you," said an emotional Vollering after the finish.

"I mean, they maybe also have a chance, and they all go for it – only for you, it's a lot to ask from them. But I'm so proud of everybody from the team. They did the whole race. We took it in hand, and they rode the whole race on the front, then Puck [Pieterse] did an amazing lead-out, and I could just not... not finish the job, you know?

"Oh yeah, there were so many moments I thought I went too early. I mean, it stayed so close the whole time, and I didn't dare to turn around and look back because I was like, I feel like they're almost in my wheel already. And then it was 20 seconds, 22, 15, and at one point they came back, and I was like, oh shit! But it's still not over. I have to believe in it, like from my little toe. I just dared and then tried again, and never gave up till the finish line.

"I was not planning to give it away anymore from that moment. I was like, no, now it's mine," she said, recalling the final sprint. "I think it was an amazing race to watch. I'm very proud to be part of that, and I cannot wait to watch it back."

Vollering adds this maiden world title to an already incredible season, in which she has won the Tour de France Femmes, Giro d'Italia Women, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, La Flèche Wallonne, the Tour of Flanders, and Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.

How it unfolded

Not long after the riders rolled out of Brossard with the tension building for the elite women's road race, the first attacks were launched out of the peloton by Rotem Gafinovitz (Israel) and Argiro Milaki (Greece), but it wasn't until 20km of the 180-kilometre route had been completed that the early breakaway formed.

With the two initial attackers brought back and the Dutch team showing they were going to control things, Gergana Stoyanova (Bulgaria), Beatriz Roxo (Portugal), Marte Berg Edseth (Norway), and Natalie Quinn (USA) got up the road and were allowed to build a lead.

Racing settled down with the Netherlands pacing behind and the break kicking on towards Montreal and the eight laps of the Mount Royal circuit and Voie Camilien-Houde climb, where the rainbow jersey winner would be decided.

Quinn and Edseth emerged as the strongest from the break, with their two other companions getting dropped, and they entered the first circuit with a three-minute lead over the chasing peloton. It was calm in the bunch, but some of the corners had caused crashes, with Paula Blasi (Spain) and Anna Henderson (Great Britain) coming down, but quickly remounting their bikes.

Racing began to heat up into the final 100km and the second of eight laps around the main circuit, but as the pace was upped, a major crash rippled through the bunch with 95km to go, forcing Blasi to abandon and the likes of defending champion Magdeleine Vallieres (Canada) and Kim Le Court-Pienaar (Mauritius) into a long chase.

The horror incident saw the peloton almost halved, with several riders requiring medical attention and abandoning, including Caroline Andersson (Sweden) and Lauretta Hanson (Australia).

With the race continuing on, the Dutch team resumed their control on the front through the indefatigable Lieke Nooijen, whose efforts in the bunch saw the two remaining breakaways both caught with 76km to go.

Without one of their leaders, Spain looked for a new path to success with Mireia Benito attacking with 61.3km to go, upsetting the rhythm being set by the Dutch team for most of the day. While this move was brought back, it encouraged the likes of Nina Berton (Luxembourg), Pfeiffer Georgi (Great Britain, and Cédrine Kerbaol (France) to make brief accelerations of their own.

The next attacker was the one who went away, though, with Kerbaol's teammate and two-time Tour de France Femmes stage winner Maeva Squiban attacking with 52km to go. Entering the final 50km, there were just 38 riders remaining in the peloton, with the French riders 22 seconds up the road.

The final 50km

Pieterse's efforts were so explosive that Lotte Kopecky (Belgium) was dropped, Kasia Niewiadoma (Poland) was dropped, as were all of the other top contenders. When Vollering finally went, with a violent surge 38.5km from the finish, Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy) was the closest to being able to follow, but she too started to fade under the pressure.

Vollering reached Squiban in no time, who tried valiantly to hang onto the Dutch rider's wheel, but also quickly got burned as the favourite reaccelerated and went solo into the final 38km.

With a long way to go, Vollering didn't completely scorch away, with her lead stabilising around the 23-second mark, and an eight-rider chasing group forming behind her: Longo Borghini, Niewiadoma, Squiban, Célia Gery, Juliette Berthet (France), Dominika Włodarczyk (Poland), Marlen Reusser (Switzerland) and Pieterse. The race was far from done yet.

Niewiadoma and Longo Borghini worked away with full effort, and after the gap fluctuated between 30 seconds and 20 seconds, the Dutch rider began to be reeled back in with 17km to go. Suddenly, the Polish and Italian riders had the lone leader in their sights.

Contact was made with 15.3km to go, turning it into a leading trio, but Berthet was also close to coming back to make it a group of four heading into a thrilling final lap.

As they took the bell, rung by the winner of Worlds the last time it was in Montreal in 1974, Geneviève Gambillon, the pace started to come out of the lead quartet, prompting Longo Borghini to attack over the line with 13km to go.

Niewiadoma looked to Vollering to do the work, and the gap quickly went out to 10 seconds. The Dutch rider found another gear, though, as they went up the main climb for the final time, dropping Berthet and grinding away to catch Longo Borghini 200 metres from the top.

Paying for her efforts on the attack, Longo Borghini soon started to struggle under the pressure, leaving the top two from the Tour de France Femmes to battle it out for the victory in the final 11km.

With Vollering doing most of the work, an attack from Niewiadoma was inevitable, and she chose a kicker 4km from the line as her moment, grimacing as she accelerated in a final bid for glory.

Vollering weathered the storm, and it became clear that a two-up sprint was going to be needed to decide the new rainbow jersey. Arriving at the final corner with 750 metres to go, the Dutch rider led out from the front, with Niewiadoma sprinting 200 metres from the line.

Even after 180km of racing and 23 kilometres out in front on her own, Vollering still had enough in the tank to overhaul her great rival, with the emotions flowing out as soon as she crossed the line victorious.

Results

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On his final day as the elite men's road race World Champion, Tadej Pogačar returned to riding outdoors, 28 days after breaking his collarbone and neck in a high-speed crash at the Vuelta a España.

In a post to his Instagram page, Pogačar posted the most positive update to his recovery yet, with pictures of him alongside partner Urška Žigart, who is also on the mend after fracturing her jaw for a second time, Eddie Dunbar, who also fractured his collarbone at the Vuelta, and Gladys Verhulst-Wild, who suffered the same injury at the Tour of Britain Women.

All residents on Monaco, the three riders compared their scars from surgery, with Žigart jokingly rating the physical marks out of 10, with her trade teammate at AG Insurance Soudal scoring the highest.

Pogačar captioned the post "First day back, last day with rainbow," with his successor as World Champion to be decided in Montreal on Sunday. In his absence, Primož Roglič is leading the Slovenian team, with Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) taking up the spot of heavy favourite.

He was looking to match Peter Sagan's feat from the 2010s of winning three world titles in a row, adding to his dominant solo victories from Zurich in 2024 and Kigali last season, but his crash on stage 8 of the Vuelta ended his season completely.

There were whispers that he could come back early at the European Championships on home roads in Ljubljana, after his name appeared on the entry list, but his UAE Emirates-XRG team ruled that out, with his recovery taking priority.

Unable to defend his titles at Worlds, Europeans, and Il Lombardia, Pogačar should return in 2027, with the Vuelta, Paris-Roubaix, and Olympic Games in LA as his main remaining goals. But he did extend his contract until 2032, so he doesn't seem to be slowing down any time soon.

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The elite women's race was affected by a large crash that saw upwards of 15 riders go down with 95km to go at the 180.1km event held at the UCI Road World Championships on Saturday, including defending champion Magdeleine Vallieres (Canada) and Vuelta a España champion Paula Blasi (Spain), who was forced to abandon the race.

"When the race entered the circuit, it was crazy," Blasi said. "People were taking too many risks. Now, there was downhill, and three girls crashed but were all behind, so it just went over. Typical scratches from the road, not too much pain."

148 riders started the race tackling the hilly 180.1km route featuring the closing Mount Royal circuit and eight ascents of the Camillien-Houde climb (2.3km at 6.2%).

The incident happened once the peloton reached the second of eight laps, with the riders coming down 12km into the circuit along Rue Saint-Urbain before turning onto Ave des Pins in the first third of the peloton.

The crash also included Femke de Vries (Netherlands), Daniela Campos (Portugal), Julia Borgström (Sweden), Carina Schrempf (Austria),
Claudette Nyirarukundo (Rwanda), Flora Perkins (Great Britain), Kate Courtney and Grace Arlandson (USA), Marta Jaskulska (Poland), Sigrid Ytterhus Haugset (Norway), Adèle Normand (Canada), Lauretta Hanson (Australia), and Caroline Andersson (Sweden).

At the time of the crash, there was a breakaway of two riders that were part of an initial four-rider move in the peloton, including Natalie Quinn (Team USA) and Marte Berg Edseth (Norway), and they still had a three-minute gap.

The crash caused major splits in the peloton, with those involved in the incident scrambling to get back on their bikes and chasing to try and close the gaps, including Kim Le Court-Pienaar (Mauritius) and Sarah Gigante (Australia), while Vallieres was left chasing at more than seven minutes back by the time they were partway through the third lap with 80km to go.

With visible wounds to her leg and hand, Vallieres abandoned, but not before arriving back at the finish line and waving to the crowds, bloodied, but with a huge smile still on her face as her title defence came to an early end.

Canada cycling's chief of sport Sebastien Travers spoke at the finish, but had little information to provide in the way of Vallieres' condition: "She's being evaluated by our doctors, as well as the organisation's doctors, and as soon as we know more, we will provide more information.

Travers hadn't yet seen the incident or spoken to the rider, but also said, "I'm hopeful she can rebound fast, and as I said, this is certainly not the last World Championships.

More to follow...

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The UCI Road World Championships present several unique challenges for teams in that the use of race radios is prohibited, making communication between the team cars and the riders especially difficult in the chaos of a road race. Most teams will send riders back to the cars for advice, but there is limited time to chat when the race is on.

Belgium - with favourites for the elite races in Lotte Kopecky for the women and Remco Evenepoel and Wout van Aert in the men's field - have a special method: taping messages to riders' bottles.

During the country's pre-race press conference on Friday, their secret 'message in a bottle' strategy was uncovered by Sporza's Renaat Schotte.

"We tested that on Friday with the under-23," coach Serge Pauwels admitted. "We work with [message boards] like every year, but we also have a different system with the drink bottles figured out.

"It's not rocket science, is it? But almost every lap, almost every rider takes on a bottle. And in the under-23s it worked well."

The strategy won't make a massive difference for Belgium, Pauwels says, "But it's a good way to get changing situations across to the riders."

The atmosphere was so light that Cyclingnews thought it must be a joke, with Van Aert laughing, saying, "It's been around for a long time, huh, although I've never raced like this before. For me, it will be new. I will be happy if I will be a little more aware of the race conditions. I'm not a fan of racing without earpieces. I have said that many times."

Sporza happened to get wind of the team's methods after a labelled bidon was picked up by one of the television cameramen.

Now that their secret has been exposed, Van Aert joked, "Maybe we should agree on a coded language.

"Or maybe we should write true messages on the even laps and false instructions on the odd ones," Pauwels joked.

"It's just a shame we still have to think about this. I think it was decided at the time to race without earpieces because the races were boring at the time, but that has changed."

Evenepoel agreed, saying there are risks to the team's strategy. "If you miss a bottle and there is an important message on it, you have not seen it. It still needs fine-tuning ... But it's a pretty good idea. There are 12 laps and therefore 12 chances to take such a bottle. The chance that we won't know the message is fairly small."

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After an unsuccessful four days of action at the CRO Race, Paul Magnier finally got the victory he was searching for on stage 5, benefiting from a perfect Soudal-QuickStep lead-out.

With the category 2 Plesivica climb coming in the last 25km of the route, it was far from a simple job for the Belgian team to deliver Magnier to the win, with UAE Team Emirates-XRG pacing hard and several attacks being launched before the summit.

But on the downhill run for home in Sveta Nedelja and after some elite work from Soudal-QuickStep, racing was kept all together before the final 4km, with many of the fast men returning.

With Magnier sat in fourth wheel, they wound things up for the sprint, with Dries Van Gestel providing the final push. Tim Torn Teutenberg tried to jump the Frenchman with an early surge, but once Magnier opened up, he moved away from all his rivals, celebrating with a roar. It brought his 11th win of the season as 35th as a professional, with Rui Oliveira (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) finishing second and Teutenberg third.

"I’m very happy to be on the top spot of the podium again! The team did an amazing job today! Their lead-out was spectacular, and all I had to do was open my sprint at the right moment and keep it all the way to the line," said Magnier.

"I knew the parcours from last year and I was aware it would be hard, because some riders were keen on attacking on the climb, but we controlled and brought back all those moves, managing to keep things together for the finale. In the sprint, I started early, but I was confident I could pull it off. Sunday is another opportunity and we are motivated to fight again for the victory."

After the peloton came to the line as a bunch, there were no major changes in the general classification, with stage 3 winner Tobias Svarre (Uno-X Mobility) maintaining his slim lead of four seconds overall on Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious), and eight seconds on Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).

The race will conclude on Sunday in Croatia's capital city, Zagreb, with another expected sprint stage, where bonus seconds could prove essential in the GC race.

Results

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Young Swiss star Anja Grossmann now has a pair of bronze medals from her two appearances in women's junior road races at the UCI Road World Championships. She was "happy, and also disappointed" at her performances in Montreal, coming away with fourth in the time trial and then crossing the line third in a sprint from a five-rider group in the road race late Friday afternoon.

Grossmann turns 19 next year and can soon put away any distaste of "hectic" junior racing as she moves to bigger objectives, namely a two-year road contract to race for FDJ United-Suez and also compete in cyclo-cross with their new Specialized TMRW UCI-registered squad.

Even during her post-race press conference on Friday, Grossmann was already thinking about her future teammates, Demi Vollering (Netherlands) and Kate Courtney (USA), both racing for their respective countries on Saturday in the elite women's road race at Montreal Worlds.

"I'm split in two because I'm Swiss," she said about rooting for compatriot Marlen Reusser, who won a second time trial title last Sunday, or pulling for FDJ trade team riders.

"I will cheer for the Swiss for sure because I know how strong they are and how nice they are. I will also cheer for Demi and for everyone from FDJ because Demi is my biggest idol. And also Kate Courtney is one of my biggest idols. It's a dream come true to ride next year for them."

In the last two years, Grossmann proved her road versatility by sweeping national titles in the time trial and road race. She also finished on the podium at two stages of Valromey Tour Féminin U19 and fourth at the junior In Flanders Fields [previously Gent-Wevelgem].

"FDJ, it's the best team for me to choose because they really also support me now, and they just give me the space to develop my best self, and they don't put any pressure on me," she said. "They also support that I love three disciplines, and that's pretty nice for me. I think that's the best thing that could happen to me, and I'm pretty grateful for that opportunity."

In addition to excelling on the road, Grossmann competes in cyclo-cross and mountain biking. She's a junior World Champion on the mountain bike, also winning the European Championships in both 2025 and 2026. The cyclo-cross season is just around the corner, where the former European junior champion can build her talents with a small but mighty squad, the new Specialized TMRW squad.

The CX team will also feature three-time CX World Champion Célia Gery, fellow French rider Jade Wiel and now Fem van Empel, who recently confirmed a restart to her cycling with the FDJ programme after 10 months away from cycling.

"With Fem, as with Anja Grossmann and Kate Courtney, we are also reinforcing our ambition to build a truly multi-disciplinary project, capable of welcoming great champions with their own backgrounds, personalities and ambitions," FDJ General Manager Stephen Delcourt said in a recent statement.

While Grossmann came short of a gold medal a second time at these championships, she said she learned a great deal about perseverance, and sounded much more mature than her 18 years.

"Junior racing is always a little bit more hectic and a little bit more without a clear tactic. I thought [the breakaway of] three was really strong. But maybe we should have worked a little bit more together," she said about getting away on the final two laps with a decisive front trio, who were later caught by two other riders with 2km to go.

"I wanted to work together, but it was not my decision; I cannot change other girls' minds. It is how it is. I think I learned from last year to don't get so nervous when other girls don't want to work together because I think my four laps or three laps today [Friday], the first ones, were pretty good.

"It's again a third place, but yeah, I learned [a lot], and I also will [try] to enjoy this one. Also after a week, I try to analyse that with my coach and try to get better and stronger, because you can always learn something from every race."

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Alongside the superstars Remco Evenepoel, Mathieu van der Poel and Isaac del Toro on the start line of the World Championships men's elite road race on Sunday will be a surprising entry: Vladimír Kováčik, a masseur for the Slovakian national team.

It's been a decade since Slovakian superstar Peter Sagan won the second of his three world titles in a row, and while still not one of the major cycling nations, the situation hasn't turned that bleak since the all-time great's retirement. Slovakia has more than enough talent to be able to field a strong team between the likes of Lukáš Kubiš (Unibet Rose Rockets), Martin Svrček (Soudal Quick-Step) and Matthias Schwarzbacher (EF Education-EasyPost), but a series of events led them to this being the only solution.

Their ranking meant they were due to be fielding a four-man team, but between injuries and rider schedules taking priority, they found themselves in an emergency, and a potentially costly one, as not fielding a team could see their national championships drop into the B category for 2027, with a cut to the number of UCI points on offer.

Late cancellations left them unable to nominate a replacement, with the window for registration closing on September 11, so they were forced to turn to a member of the support staff to protect the future prospects of Slovakian riders.

"The only nominated racer [for the women's race], Nora Jenčušová, had to end the season prematurely due to injuries and adverse health conditions. Likewise, the only relevant nominated men - Lukáš Kubiš, Matthias Schwarzbacher and Martin Svrček had to cancel their participation at the last moment," read a post from the Slovakian federation's Instagram.

"Due to the late cancellation of their participation, it was no longer possible to supplement the nomination adequately. Given the UCI rules and the fact that the World Championships are taking place in Canada, the situation was only possible to be resolved through a member of the Slovak team, who was already on site and met the conditions of the start. At the same time, it is not possible to further include U23 in the elite category of quality racers, because they could lose the opportunity to start in their age category."

A 28-year-old masseur for the national team, Kováčik has raced previously, but according to his ProCyclingStats profile, not since 2017. That season he was 32nd in the national time trial championships in Slovakia, and he had raced at Paris-Roubaix juniors the season before that – though he did not finish.

In the women's elite road race, they will similarly be fielding only one rider, but the situation hasn't been quite as desperate, with Tereza Kurnická taking the start as Jenčušová's replacement, a multiple-time Slovakian national champion in mountain biking.

National coach Jakub Vančo explained the consequences in greater detail, stating how essential the points could be for their goal of qualifying for the 2028 LA Olympics, but made sure to stress that the masseur's entry was nothing more than a "formal representation".

"For the national champion, the drop is half, for the second one almost two-thirds. We would count the losses in the hundreds. These points are equal to winning a World Tour stage race, which is beyond our capabilities," Vančo told Sportnet

"So we have to fulfil our obligation to the UCI to have someone compete in the elite races. Moreover, next year will be a qualifying year for the 2028 Olympics.

"Our participation will only be formal. We will have representation in the form of a person who is here and formally meets the conditions and licenses."

Slovakia has performed well throughout the ongoing championships in Montreal, Canada, with top young talent and Visma-Lease a Bike rider Viktória Chladoňová winning the women's under-23 road race and Richard Riška taking eighth in the equivalent men's race. It's the future of these riders and the rest of their developing talent that the decision has been made for.

"Minimum representation of Slovakia in the Elite category is important in terms of maintaining the ranking and point positions required for future nominations for the World Championships, European Championships and Olympic Games," read the post on the federation's Instagram.

"Although such a solution is not ideal and it is not a decision that we would accept easily, in the current situation it is necessary to preserve start possibilities for prospective Slovak cyclists and cyclists, such as Chladoňová, Kubiš, Schwarzbacher, Ungerová, Svrček, Riška, Novák, Andacká and other quality juniors. We therefore believe in understanding this extraordinary situation."

"I would like to thank Terka Kurnická and Vlad Kováčik for starting in the elite category. With their participation, we will not lose important points that will be useful to us in the future," said Chladoňová.

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As the UCI Road World Championships in Montreal, Canada prepare to reach their crescendo with the elite women's and men's road races, the organisers of the next Worlds presented a hugely ambitious project for a combined championships bigger than any in history.

Bringing together all of the UCI's disciplines except for cyclo-cross and snow bike, the Haute Savoie combined UCI World Championships will include 20 disciplines from BMX to Trials - bringing in the Gravel World Championships for the first time - and gather some 15,000 athletes from 207 nations to compete for 288 titles.

The road races will take place in Sallanches, the site of the 1964 Road World Championships where Eddy Merckx won his first title as an amateur at age 19, and where Bernard Hinault won his world title in 1980. Each race will take place fully on a 13.3km circuit that includes 185m of climbing on the Côte de Domancy, a 2.5 km climb that has an average gradient of 9.4%.

There will be no lengthy run-out for the elite riders, just 20 laps of the circuit for an incredibly demanding 265 kilometres with 5,700 metres of climbing for elite men, 12 laps/158.6km and 3,420 metres for elite women and under-23 men, 9 laps for under-23 women and junior men and six laps for junior women.

Even the time trials will have a climb. The elite and under-23 time trials are 37.2km with a start and finish in Annecy, encircling Lac d'Annecy and climbing over the Côte de Talloires - a 1.5km climb at 6.5% average - for a total of 265 metres of climbing, while juniors begin in Doussard at the south end of the lake for 20.3km and 202 metres of climbing. In the mixed relay, the men will cover the flat first 16.9km while the women will tackle the climb and 20.3km, making for some interesting tactical decisions.

But the championships will be much, much bigger than just road cycling, with three BMX events, Indoor Cycling, Esports, Cycle Speedway (think short-track speed skating on bikes), Gran Fondo, Gravel, five Mountain Bike events (Cross-country, Marathon, Downhill, Enduro and E-Enduro), bike Polo, Pump Track, Para-cycling Road, Track (Junior, Elite, Para) and Trials.

The combined event is the brainchild of David Lappartient, who said he originally had the idea to combine the five Olympic disciplines every four years while campaigning to become UCI President. During Friday's presentation of the 2027 Worlds, he explained, "Once [I was] elected ... we said to ourselves: 'Why limit ourselves to five? Why not include our various competitions of the year?'"

The journey led to the 2023 Glasgow World Championships with 13 disciplines and, after a chance meeting while on holiday in Châtel that led to Lappartient presenting the awards of a Gran Fondo, he met the president of the province, Martial Saddier.

"That was the first meeting," Lappartient recalled. "And he said, 'I have a dream. I want to bring back the UCI Road World Championship in Sallanches, where Bernard Hinault won. When can it be?'. I said, 'Look, 2025 is in Africa, 2026 could probably be Montreal - here we are - and in 2027, we set up the combined World Championships, but 2028 is free."

"But he said, 'Yes, but we are elected until March 2028 ... Why not 2027, the combined?' [I said], 'It's all the disciplines, you know, it will be like 20 UCI World Championships together.' And he said, "OK, done. I'll take that."

The agreement held and one year from now, the 'Cycling Games' will be spread across the province, with Les Gets, a long-time MTB World Cup host, hosting the mountain bike cross-country and downhill. Only track cycling will be outside Haute Savoie. Rather than use the nearby Grenoble velodrome, track cycling events will be held in the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines National Velodrome outside of Paris.

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Racing defensively in the elite men's road race would be unforgivable in the eyes of Remco Evenepoel, who lines up as part of Belgium's two-pronged approach alongside Wout van Aert, both aiming for the rainbow jersey at the UCI Road World Championships in Montreal on Sunday.

"What mistake will I find hard to forgive myself for if I didn't become world champion on Sunday? That I raced defensively," Remco Evenepoel told Sporza in a press conference held at their national team's residence at the Hôtel Mortagne on Friday evening.

Evenepoel and Van Aert are just two of several favourites heading into the elite men's 273.7km that includes 3,800m of elevation gain across 12 laps of the Mount Royal circuit and the Camillien-Houde climb (2.3km at 6.2%).

Only the strongest riders will survive this race of attrition, with noted rivals including Paul Seixas (France), Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands), Tom Pidcock (Great Britain) and Isaac del Toro (Mexico), who won on this circuit just two weeks ago at the Grand Prix de Montreal.

Evenepoel secured his fourth elite time trial world title last weekend and arrived in Montreal having taken victories at the Clasica San Sebastian and Grand Prix de Quebec; he was also second overall at the Tour de France this year behind five-time winner Tadej Pogačar (Slovenia).

Pogačar will not line up to defend his world title won in Kigali last year, after crashing heavily at the Vuelta a España, and Evenepoel doesn't believe that it is Belgium's responsibility to make the race difficult.

"It is not up to us to do that. Wout van Aert and I are two finishers. Someone like Paul Seixas has to come in alone. Everyone knows that. So the French will have to make it a long and tough race," he said in a Sporza interview. "I don't need to be afraid to go to the finish with a group."

Even so, Evenepoel said that racing defensively would be his biggest regret.

He last won the elite men's road race world title in 2022 in Wollongong, while Van Aert's long list of accomplishments has yet to yield a rainbow jersey on the road.

Van Aert comes into this weekend as a favourite after a successful Vuelta a España, where he won two stages, posted eight top-10s, and took the points classification jersey.

His biggest win this year, and one of the most memorable, came at Paris-Roubaix, where he hoisted the cobblestone trophy above his head for the first time in his career.

A rainbow jersey to match would be a fitting ending to a season of firsts for Van Aert.

He reminded the press that he finished second at the Grand Prix de Montreal in 2022 and will understand the circuit's demands. "I don't need to convince anyone, except myself, that this course suits me," he told Sporza.

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A win is never all there is at stake in any race, but somehow at Le Tour de Langkawi it's a fact that doesn't quietly tap away in the background but leaps into the spotlight with a deafening roar.

For a start, the long-running Malaysian event offers a rare chance to launch a career, while for others it is a last chance to save it for those riders yet to secure a contract for 2027. Then there are the crucial points at stake in the never-ending relegation battle, and its current position near the end of the season also often makes it a farewell tour for riders who have decided, or had decided for them, that it is time to step away from the sport.

Altogether, it delivers the ingredients for a heady and emotion-filled, no-holds-barred battle with the backdrop of an exotic location plus a hot and humid climate which will have the riders raising a sweat even just walking to sign in at the start of each of the eight stages from September 27 to October 4.

The race, which pulls together teams from the WorldTour, ProTour, Continental ranks and national teams for a race in a region which prizes its high-level UCI race opportunities, given they are limited, will also be throwing some new elements into the mix for its 30th edition this year.

Usually the sprinters are in focus for much of the event, with a decisive climbing day in the mix that is often decisive in the General Classification battle, but this year there are three summit finishes to add fire to the overall fight, with organisers pointing to the race as among the toughest editions ever.

It's a welcome move for the riders who enjoy the uphill, but the sprinters and others who may not be pure climbers but perhaps thought they may be able to hang in there for one day and have a shot at the GC.

"Yeah, the organisers have done a good job of removing any hope for riders like myself of having any chance at the GC with how hard they've made it this year," quipped Aaron Gate (XDS-Astana), the winner of the final stage of last year's race.

Sprinter Fernando Gaviria (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA)was even more succinct when asked what he thought about the trio of climbing days: "For me it's just survive."

These will be days when the fast men become allies in the autobus, looking to beat the time limit rather than enemies, getting through so they can battle once again. Those among the key sprint contenders include last year's three-time winner Matteo Malucelli (XDS-Astana) – although we are yet to see if there may be any impact in stage from a training crash on Saturday that saw him quickly subbed out of the pre-race media conference line-up as his teammate Gate was subbed in.

The potential sprint competition includes the five-time Giro d'Italia and two-time Tour de France stage winner Gaviria along with Modern Adventure's Riley Pickrell, though the Canadian rider is unfortunately one teammate down even before the race has even begun. Leo Hayter posted on social media that while he made the journey to Malaysia, he then discovered that he had pericarditis, so he has had to end his season.

There is only one flat stage for the sprinters – from Shah Alam to Kampar – before the climbing begins, with the introduction of the new ascent of Gunung Jerai as a shorter but steep finale for stage 2. Stage 3 then delivers an early category 2 challenge, which could well be a break launching point, though it flattens to give the fast-finishers another potential chance in Kuala Kangsar.

But the next two stages, with their long and challenging ascents to the finish line, are unquestionably all about the climbers. These include new revelation speed-skater turned cyclist Jasch Lennart (Tudor), Jan Castellon (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Nicolas Breuillard (Total Energies), Harold Martín López (XDS-Astana) and Jonathan Caicedo (Wheeltop Rotor Chengdu), who won the 2.Pro ranked Tour of Magnificent Qinghai in July.

When the Ecuadorian champion, who in 2020 won a Giro stage on top of Mount Etna, was asked if he considered himself the favourite, Caicedo said, "My goal is a top ten finish in the race. I was training very hard in Ecuador; I think I'm good for the race, I'm ready for this."

Stage 4 heads into the Cameron Highlands – where overall race winner Simon Carr claimed victory in 2023 – with the road steadily ascending for more than 40km to the line. Then there is a second stage in a row that is finishing with a Hors-category climb, as the race on stage finishes in the Genting Highlands, which is an ascent that crowned Max Poole as the winner in 2024.

From there, stage 6 from Pandan Indah to Rembau offers some early category 3 challenges but flattens out after the first 20km, while stage 7 from the vibrant historical location of Melaka to Batu Pahat has nothing in the way of obstacles for the sprinters but the final stage to Putrajaya delivers a category 3 climb 50km from the line which could prove a launching point for an attack as the very last chance at a tour filled with riders looking for them unfolds.

*Cyclingnews attended Le Tour de Langkawi on an invitation/media package from the race that included travel and accommodation. In line with our editorial standards, our coverage is independent and was not subject to review, approval or influence by the organiser or any sponsor; no favourable coverage was promised or given in return.

When a rider like Tom Pidcock points to your elite men's team for the UCI Road World Championships and says, "they probably have the most strength in depth of any team" for Sunday's elite men's road race, that's a big compliment.

The last American rider to win on the same course in the Grand Prix de Montreal, Brandon McNulty, sees the 2026 Worlds as his country's best shot at their first elite men's title since 1993.

"It's the best team I think the U.S. have had," McNulty told Cyclingnews after the time trial on Sunday. "Of course there's going to be crazy good guys from all the nations, so we have our work cut out. I think we have a good team to race super aggressively and try to do something.

There's a ton of strong guys that we still don't think have ever really beaten before. So it's gonna be hard, but we have numbers to at least play our cards well."

The US team have McNulty, Matteo Jorgenson and Quinn Simmons as their protected riders. After Neilson Powless withdrew from the team due to illness, according to USA Cycling, he has been replaced by Riley Sheehan, who had felt snubbed by being named as a reserve.

The team also has Kevin Vermaerke, Artem Shmidt, Larry Warbasse, and Sean Quinn. McNulty, third in the GP de Montreal two weeks ago with Simmons, who finished fourth just behind, are the top contenders, together with Jorgenson, who was second overall in Tirreno-Adriatico this year, and remains one of the country's top one-day race competitors.

Cyclingnews caught up with Team USA's sports director for the elite men's race, Mike Creed, who seemed realistic about the team's chances based on the superstars they're up against - even in the absence of Tadej Pogačar, who is out because of his crash in the Vuelta a España. Isaac del Toro (Mexico), Remco Evenepoel and Wout van Aert (Belgium), and Paul Seixas (France) will be hard for the US riders to beat.

"[A top five] might be the best we can do, depending on who's in front," Creed tells Cyclingnews. "We're more capable of getting a medal with multiple guys at this race than ever. That doesn't mean we should, or it'll be a failure if we don't.

"Matteo [Jorgenson] was there and thereabouts at Québec [eighth -ed.] and he's going to have to have better legs on the day. I'm not writing him out, but he's acknowledged that. Kevin [Vermaerke] came out of the Vuelta - he spent like the last 10 days in the breakaway, so like if he's a little cooked, it wouldn't be the most surprising thing in the world. So, if you figure that we have two guys who don't have question marks over them about their form. [It will be] clear we made a mistake if we don't have anyone in the first 15," he added before giving a golf metaphor. "Par is top 15, top 10 is like a birdie, and I think top five, top three is a hole-in-one.

"Obviously, it's a World [Championships], and you want to dream for the sky, but the fact is just because we are excited to be in North America and have a really good team doesn't mean that Wout and Remco aren't who they are. I love the idea of a Rocky movie triumph - I'll be the happiest guy in the world if that happens, but I don't want these guys to make moves based off of a cinematic background score."

Tactics and strategy

Creed was able to watch the Under-23 Women and Junior Men's races to see how the races played out on the quite arduous Montreal circuit - 13.4 kilometres long with two significant climbs and very little flat roads in between.

"It was similar to how I thought it was going to play out, not because I'm incredibly smart or anything, but just because the course runs a certain way. In the women's race, when [the breakaway] had two minutes, you're like, 'They're not really making any inroads,' and then when the bigger-name riders went, they got it down to 30 seconds really, really quickly," says Creed.

"Then, [it was the] same thing in the Junior Men's race. Unless it's a bigger group than three or four - it has to probably be like six or seven - for it to be that dangerous. Otherwise, it's just really hard to be out there by yourself or in a small group, with the fast downhills where the pack can really pick up a lot of speed - free speed, accelerating out of the turns. All these things that just really add up when you're solo or in a small group.

"There's no room for error - you can't get caught behind; you don't want to chase. It's not like Remco [Evenepoel] in Montreal, where he bridged to the leading five or six by himself. Even as strong as he is, he got there, then on the next lap [he paid for it]. So it's not a climb that you want to do a lot by yourself unless everyone else is already smoked.

"You saw in the Women's Under-23 race, the Australian girl [Felicity Wilson-Haffenden], she just was dropping bombs on people. And even then, she went just a little too early, and it kind of gassed her."

In the Junior Men's race, Spain's Benjamín Noval attacked out of the bunch with 45km to go, reached the breakaway, then dropped them to go solo for almost two laps. It's the kind of scenario that a time trial world champion like Noval can pull off - and one Evenepoel can realistically do, too. How can the US team keep that from happening?

"By making sure that the guys are as fresh for that attack as possible," Creed replies. "You can't make Remco not Remco. You can only just prepare yourself the best you can for that move, and then hope for a little bit of luck after that. It's not always fun to have that in a race plan; you want as little 'hope' as possible in a race plan. But ultimately, I think there's probably two other guys that eight times out of ten can follow Remco from bottom to top."

That would be Seixas and Del Toro.

"Even then, they've got to have a fairly decent race leading into it. I think McNulty, six or seven times out of 10, is going to be able to stay with that, especially if he has a clean race. Simmons about the same, Matteo more or less the same. Because there is a drafting section in the middle of the climb. It's steeper at the bottom, then you can draft in that main part, so..."

Although the team had not yet held their strategy meeting at the time of our conversation, Creed says the riders were all "on the same page and really open to playing the cards close to their chest".

"I think we really want the best possible result. We all do."

In order to get their best shot at a world title, Creed says the race has to be as hard as possible before the end of the 110-kilometre run-in from Brossard.

"I think McNulty and Quinn and Matteo are very durable riders, and the more time on the pedals for everyone, the better. It could be windy at the start and there are some open sections. I don't think it would be something where you'd get Qatar-style echelons - it won't split to like 30 [riders] and then keep it all the way to the line. But it could just cause some being on the pedals and a little bit more stress than most people would generally like for a 270km race.

"The run-in to the circuits is not exactly straightforward. It's got a good little bump in it; it could be crosswinds over the bridge... I might be tempting fate saying that, because maybe we'll end up on the bad side of something, but I think as much of a shit-fight of a race as possible suits us. It eliminates a lot of variables."

Along with Belgium, Creed says the French team, who are fully behind Seixas, will be dictating the race.

"I would be surprised if France made the climb easy once," he says. "I'm sure France wants as many hard climbing kilometres as humanly possible. They probably don't want Wout to go up the road, and then have them chasing while Remco sits on. That's probably not a very enviable position. Belgium is very blessed in having a Remco because he can go with 60 km to go; he can also go with 15 km to go."

The earlier an attack, the easier it will be to chase down for nations that have full squads, but it depends on who ends up in a breakaway.

"If Remco's not bridging to a powerhouse like a Mads Pedersen or Stefan Küng - a guy who's going to go pull-for-pull with him and just help carry him along in all the high-speed downhill and flat sections - if he goes up there with a bunch of people who are just swinging, not helping him, then maybe [he can be chased down]," says Creed.

"We hope the race gets chaotic, and we're able to go in some moves mid-late and not use a lot of energy - have the race come up there, and we have guys in both selections. Then we end up having numbers, and then we can play from there.

"It's such a delicate fine edge because you want to slip into moves rather than make the moves, and you want the people that you slip in with to be people who can carry a lot of the weight. You want some Mads Pedersen-type to go with Quinn - that's a good move. It's not necessarily a good move if Quinn and Del Toro go, because then it would be a better position to sit on, and Quinn's not going to want to sit on."

Unlike in the past, Creed says riders from other countries aren't usually colluding because they share the same trade team the rest of the year.

"They don't do that anymore - they used to, but I think those days are gone. If you're on UAE, I think you're probably well-paid enough. That could probably happen if you had a guy who was like a straight-up domestique.

"You even saw last year in Kigali, Pogačar didn't wait for [Del Toro] - he kind of sat up for a second, and was like, 'Hey, you good?' And then was like, 'Oh, all right, well, I got to go, bye!' At the end of the day, they're there to win races, right?

"If anything, maybe it would be like the social pressure - if you got into a two-up breakaway - of trying to pull just as hard as your teammate because you guys have a friendly rivalry. Like last year with Del Toro, maybe he should have sat on a little bit and been like, 'Bro, I'm wrecked,' but you know, you get excited and stuff. But no, that's not a problem. I mean, Quinn's teammates with Mads, you know, like, unfortunately everyone's got teammates."

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Watch the road races at the UCI Road World Championships 2026 as the women and men take on the 180.1 and 273.4km routes respectively in Montreal.

CyclingNews brings you all the information you need to watch, with free TV coverage and official broadcasters provided, as well as the all-important start times of the riders.

The road races are the crown jewels of the Road World Championships, with the two elite races on the final weekend of the event bringing the cream of the crop of the men's and women's pelotons together to compete for the rainbow jersey.

On the men's side, riders including Remco Evenepoel (Belgium), Isaac del Toro (Mexico), Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands), Tom Pidcock (Great Britain), and Paul Seixas (France) will be competing for glory.

They'll do battle over a 273.4km course featuring 12 laps of the hilly Mount Royal circuit in Montreal, with the Camilien-Houde climb (1.6km at 7.7%) set to prove decisive.

In the women's race, look out for riders including Demi Vollering (Netherlands), Lotte Kopecky (Belgium), Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Poland), Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy), Marlen Reusser (Switzerland), and Paula Blasi (Spain).

They'll face a 180.1km route based on the same Mount Royal circuit. Eight laps of the circuit and eight ascents of the Camilien-Houde climb will be the important points of the race.

Want to know how you can tune in from wherever you are? Cyclingnews has all the information you need on how to watch the time trial below.

Can I watch the road races at UCI Road World Championships for free?

The road races at the UCI World Championships will be available to watch for free on multiple platforms across the world:

• BBC iPlayer (UK)
• CBC Gem (Canada)
• VRT / RTBF (Belgium)
• France TV (France)
• RAI (Italy)
• NOS (Netherlands)
• RTVE (Spain)
• UCI YouTube (Countries with no broadcaster)

Abroad? Use a VPN to unlock your free stream — find out more below.

How to watch the road races at UCI Road World Championships from anywhere in the world

Away from home during the Road World Championships? A VPN can help you keep up with the action.

VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) can change your device’s location, allowing you to bypass geo-restrictions on streaming services and access your usual coverage from anywhere. They also add an extra layer of security when using public Wi-Fi.

NordVPN is recommended by our office-mates at TechRadar for its strong stream unblocking:

How to watch the road races at UCI Road World Championships in the UK

BBC iPlayer will show coverage of the road races at the UCI World Championships.

Alternatively, TNT Sports will broadcast the action with plans starting at £25.99/month on OTT streamer HBO Max.

How to watch the road races at UCI Road World Championships in the USA

FloBikes will show full coverage of the elite road races in the USA.

Prices start at $39.99 per month, although there is an annual option for $155.88 — that's the equivalent of $12.99 per month.

How to watch the road races at UCI Road World Championships in Canada

In Canada, CBC Gem will have full and free coverage of the elite road races at the UCI Road World Championships.

How to watch the road races at UCI Road World Championships in Australia

In Australia, you will need Stan Sport to watch the road races at the UCI Road World Championships.

Stan Sport plans start from AU$29.99/month with a base Stan plan (AU$9.99) and the Sport add-on included (AU$20)

Road Races – Schedule

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Alejandra Neira gave Spain their third gold medal of the UCI Road World Championships, winning the junior women's road race in a hotly-contested five-rider sprint in Montreal.

Neira patiently waited until the final 150 metres to put in a massive turn of speed, leaving Matilde Rossignoli (Italy) in her wake to take silver, while Anja Grossmann (Switzerland) claimed third.

After the dual titles from Benjamín Noval in the junior men's time trial and road race, Neira's gold medal represents the future of Spanish cycling.

"I can't believe it. It's the best day of my life," Neira said. "I can't believe that I'm the World Champion. It's incredible."

Last year, it was Neira's teammate Paula Ostiz who won the title. Now it's her turn.

"Paula is a big, big friend, also teammate, and to be the World Champion after her, wow, incredible."

Neira was part of a three-rider escape along with Grossmann and Rossignoli, but the pair were caught in the final three kilometres by Maria Okrucińska (Poland) and Mirthe Mons (Netherlands), which shook her confidence a bit.

"When the other riders arrived, I lost a little bit my confidence, because Maria is a really good sprinter. But I tried to keep on her wheel, and then when I saw that I have to pass, I went."

Grossmann finished fourth in the junior women's time trial, so found redemption with a bronze medal, though she said the final 26km were a challenge after a missed water bottle.

"I think the the last two laps were pretty intense and pretty tough because the Spanish girl attacked at the feed zone and I didn't catch my bottle there, so I rode like two laps without my bottle," she said at the post-race press conference.

"That was hard because I got pretty bad cramps. But I think I worked really on my mental strength, and that just kept going. I'm not the best sprinter, but I just try to to sprint as best as I can."

Second half challenges and re-positioning

This year's route for the junior women measured 5.6km longer than the Kigali route and included a little more climbing, a total of 1,614 metres of elevation gain. Canada, Great Britain and Spain came with five riders each, giving them an edge with numbers.

It was not until the second lap that the complexion of the peloton began to change, with riders falling off the back rather than anyone accelerating away. Spain, Australia and Poland were represented at the front.

With just under 45km to go, French rider Sidonie Vachet put a spark in the proceedings with an attack at the front of a fractured peloton. She opened a slight 16-second gap on the uphill to start a fourth circuit, marking the halfway point of the 80.4km race.

Behind, Scout Wellmeier (USA) rode at the front with Lluna Jimenez (Spain), Eva Drhova (Czechia), the Australian duo Chloe Bowen and Neve Parslow, and Polish duo Maria Okrucińska and Amelia Szymańska, and another 31 riders packed into the peloton.

Bright sunshine helped the temperatures rise as high as 24°C (76°F), the warmest afternoon of the championships so far, and riders took on plenty of liquids at the feed zone along the climb. Across the summit of the Camillien-Houde, Vachet relented to the pace behind and the race reset.

Once across the Polytechnique climb and on the twisting city-centre streets of Montréal, Great Britain riders could be seen gathering at the front. But it was an acceleration from Colombia's Zara Sofia Lamprea that came on the approach to the Parc Avenue climb.

Lamprea carried a 10-second advantage, with Wellmeier trailing in solo second. The reduced peloton of 35 riders began the chase with two laps remaining at 20 seconds.

There was a crash at the front of the race under a heavy canopy of trees, with Lamprea and Wellmeier going down. Both were back riding quickly, but as they made the penultimate ascent of Camillien-Houde, the chase began closing down their effort.

A group of 10 crested the summit, and Lamprea just a few seconds behind and Wellmeier farther back, now chasers. France, Spain and Germany each had two riders, with one rider each from the USA, Netherlands, Great Britain and Switzerland. Then on the back side of Mont Royal, more riders tagged along for a bigger group.

Riders upped the pace to position at the front, passing crowds at the Polytechnique Montréal centre for science and technology, with a series of twisting turns on the descent causing riders to go wide on the course.

With 18.5km to go, Nabyenka García (Mexico) was the next rider to put in an extra effort, gapping the field by 15 seconds quickly on a flatter section. The Mexican rider looked back several times, and finally kept on the accelerator to go alone.

The bell lap rang with long shadows forming in the late Canadian afternoon, García still out front but only by 14 seconds. The curse of race leaders continued as she stopped for a mechanical, looking to reposition her chain, and was forced back in the peloton.

Wellmeier, Vachet, Parslow, Orucińska and Lidia Castro (Spain) were setting the pace at the bottom of the final ascent. Mirthe Mons (Netherlands) pushed the pace at the front, which seemed to spur others to give it a go. Soon a trio were at the front - Anja Grossmann (Switzerland), Alejandra Neira (Spain) and Matilde Rossignoli (Italy) - and with 10km to go had 20 seconds on Okrucińska and Mons.

With 4km to go, the trio weren't showing signs of working togehter, which allowed Mons and Okrucińska, the new world time trial champion, to edge closer in the chase.

"Maybe we should have worked a little bit more together, so the other two wouldn't came back. But that's junior racing because junior racing is always a little bit more hectic and a little bit more without a clear tactic. I wanted to work together, but it was not my decision," Grossmann said later.

With 2km to go, there were five to fight for three medals.

Mons struck first on the final climb. Then mountain bike world champion Grossman passed, then Rossignoli, but it was Neira who went wide on the right side and took the victory.

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Results

Rising talent Aubin Sparfel ends his under-23 career in disappointment, having finished just off the podium in fourth place in the under-23 men's race at the UCI Road World Championships on Friday.

The 20-year-old French rider came into the race as the big favourite, and was hoping to secure the rainbow jersey. Now, he will turn his attention to joining compatriot Paul Seixas in the WorldTour with Decathlon CMA CGM after spending four seasons growing through the team's development ranks.

"We are a little bit disappointed, but we gave it everything," Sparfel told Cyclingnews.

"Of course, we were here for the victory. It's like that. I'm super proud of the team and proud of myself. I had a super amount of pressure on me after the win last week [Grand Prix de Wallonie], and I felt like I could finally dream about winning."

Sparfel had another successful season with the Decathlon CMA CGM Development programme, kicking off the year with an overall victory at Le Tour de Bretagne Cycliste, taking sixth overall at Boucles de la Mayenne-Crédit Mutuel, fourth overall at Giro d'Italia Next Gen, and winning a stage of the Tour de l'Avenir.

He capped off his season with a victory at the one-day Lotto Grand Prix de Wallonie, showing top form heading into these Worlds and setting himself up as one of the favourites.

"Of course, I learned a lot this year. I won a lot, and I think I'm ready to step up. It was a super good season, and I can thank everyone around me. My team, the France team, my coaches and my family. It was a super good year," he said.

During the under-23 men's road race, Sparfel joined a chase group that also included silver medallist Héctor Álvarez (Spain) and bronze medallist Jesper Stiansen (Norway) in a failed effort to bring back new world champion Ashlin Barry (USA).

Despite his disappointment in finishing fourth, Sparfel praised Barry on his winning performance.

"Ashlin was super strong," Sparfel told Cyclingnews. "We knew that he could win this year, but we did everything we could as a team, and we were super strong as a team.

"In the last two laps we did a lot with the other guys from the big favourites, but in the end, we arrived in the race for second place - it's like that."

Sparfel will now turn his attention to racing alongside Seixas, fourth overall in the Tour de France this year and a favourite in the elite men's road race on Sunday. The two riders are among the nation's most promising talents on the WorldTour.

"I will go to the WorldTour, so I will no longer race in the under-23s. I've ridden on every team with Paul since we were juniors and know him really well," Sparfel told Cyclingnews.

"I will race for Decathlon next season, and we will see what we can do. I will speak with the team about my race program, but I'm proud of my under-23 racing season, and now I will focus on elite for next season."

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With 1.7km to go in the men's under-23 road race at the 2026 Road World Championships, the USA's Ashlin Barry was riding solo on one of the few flat roads on the Montréal circuit when a TV camera captured him shaking his head, seeming to realise he would soon have a gold medal for a birthday present.

"I don't know how I did that," he said after receiving his gold medal and rainbow jersey.

Going into the 174.2km contest, Barry had expected it to be the usual frenzy of high-octane racing among the field of 170-plus riders. He only wanted to stay away from the "uncontrolled" racing and find an opportunity if it was there.

"It was a hard start, and there's attacks going [everywhere]. I didn't really script it going in. I had maybe an idea of what I could do.

"I didn't think I'd be strong enough to follow the best guys on the climbs. So I just thought if I could get ahead, then maybe that would give me some room to go on the climb and still make the front group. Once I was away, I just committed.

"Honestly, I didn't think I could do it until the last lap, when I reached the top of the last climb. I attacked early in the race because I was worried I wouldn’t be able to follow the better climbers on the climb. In the end, I managed to keep everyone behind me. It feels surreal," the birthday boy, who turned 19 on Friday, admitted.

He saw the gap times posted on the bulletin board from the moto on his two-lap charge with Kristian Egholm (Denmark), both getting away as part of a five-rider break on the fourth of 13 laps as the Dane was the only rider able to stay with Barry.

The reigning US Pro men's U23 road champion then struck out on his solo escape with just under 29km to go, a full two laps of focus. That was the moment he saw an opportunity, but still wasn't confident.

"I kept seeing the gap and kept expecting it to come down on the climbs. Somehow, I was able to hold it. I was kind of just riding my pace and expecting some riders would come across to me. You know, so I just tried not to overextend or go over my limit, and I just kept pushing and eating and drinking as much as possible.

"I thought, eventually, I'd get caught or kind of hit a wall, and somehow it never happened. I really just rode my own pace and went as fast as I could to the finish. The last two laps I just gave it everything I had."

Barry finished fourth in the U23 time trial earlier this week, and thought he had a chance at a medal there. He said an unexpected bonus from training for several weeks on his TT bike seemed to help the most in the road race.

"I thought the TT would be a really big opportunity for me, so I was really focusing on it in my training. And in the end, that probably helped quite a bit in the road race. I think between the hills, I was just able to stay really efficient and conserve energy well. So definitely could have made the difference in the end."

This is his third World Championships medal after claiming silvers as a junior in the time trial and the on the track in the Omnium. However, it was special not just because of the colour, but where he won. The teenager lives with his family in Toronto, a dual citizen of US and Canada, and he opted to ride for Team USA two years ago for the best resources.

His immediate family was in attendance - father Michael Barry of Canada, mother Dede Demet-Barry of USA, his sister Holland, and his dog.

Both of his parents are retired professional cyclists, with Demet-Barry the other family member to have won a race in Montreal, doing so at the women's World Cup road race in 2002, finishing on top of Mount Royal.

Besides an extended celebration of his birthday tonight with family and friends, Barry already had sights on 2027 and beyond, wearing his new rainbow stripes as a U23 rider next year on the road, and perhaps getting an early call from the Visma-Lease a Bike development team to the WorldTour squad.

"I have a contract to join the WorldTour team with Visma, I don't know if that'll be next year or the year after. You know, on paper I was supposed to have two years in the development team, so we'll see. I think it'd be cool to race in the World Championship jersey, do some U23 races next year. But if they think I'm ready to step up and go to the World Tour, then that would be pretty cool too."

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Ashlin Barry (USA) claimed the country's first ever under-23 road race title in the UCI Road World Championships, pulling off an audacious 30-kilometre solo attack from a five-rider breakaway that had already been off the front for more than 100 kilometres.

Barry said he only went on the attack to get ahead and save some energy on the climbs for when the attacks came from the strongest riders.

"I didn't really think I would be strong enough to follow the the best guys on the climbs. Once I was away, I just committed. Honestly, I didn't think I could do it until until the last lap when I reached the top of the last climb.

"Just complete disbelief, honestly."

It was a massive birthday present for the dual Canadian-American citizen - the son of former pros Michael Barry and Dede Demet-Barry - who turned 19 today and was the eighth-youngest rider in the field.

He gave North America something to celebrate after the region had been shut out of the under-23 men's medals since Taylor Phinney (USA) tied Canadian Guillaume Boivin for the bronze in 2010.

Smiling for the cameras and waving to the crowds as he climbed to the finish, Barry crossed the line with his chasers well out of sight.

It was 53 seconds before Hector Alvarez (Spain) out-sprinted the remnants of the breakaway for the silver, banging his bars in frustration, while Jesper Stiansen (Norway) took home the bronze.

Barry lives in Toronto, and had ample support around the course as both the host country and the US fans who travelled to Montreal were cheering him on as he worked to hold off his chasers.

"It was just unreal being out there, seeing so many so many friends, seeing my family. I could hear my dog barking on the side of the course," Barry said.

"It really felt like a home race out there. I just have to say I'm like so so grateful for for the support I had, and yeah, there's just so many people I have to have to thank."

The result exceeded his expectations for his home Worlds, especially after he finished off the podium in the time trial.

"Honestly, I didn't didn't think it was possible," Barry said. "I thought maybe at best I could get get a medal or something or a nice result. I thought maybe in the TT - I could have a chance, but to to win on this course is just unbelievable."

For Álvarez, third in the time trial, it was a difficult pill to swallow missing out on another world title.

"Ashlin was just stronger," the Spaniard said. "It was only me and the group against him, he was super strong and I need to congratulate him.

"I wanted to arrive at the front, but I have two [medals] - not the one I was coming for... but I am happy, in any event."

Stiansen, however, was happy to reach his goal of landing on the podium.

"It was a crazy hard sprint and also a hard race - to come with third place is amazing. It was our goal today, but to do it, it's never easy," he said.

"It was full guys all day and crazy chaotic. Luckily, I found my legs during the last lap, so I could attack up to the front group, and I'm super happy to end it off with the third place."

How it unfolded

The under-23 men lined up under sunny skies ready to take on 13 laps of a 13.4km circuit for a total of 174.2km and 3,497m of elevation. The circuit started on the Avenue du Parc and include two main climbs: Camillien-Houde to the top of Mount Royal, Côte de la Polytechnique, and then tackle the uphill drag to the finish back on Avenue du Parc.

Frank Ragilo (Estonia) made the first move early in the opening lap as the sun was just peaking above the skyscrapers of downtown Montreal. He was joined by Mads Landbo (Denmark), Filip Durdyk (Poland) and a rider each from Spain and the USA but the breakaway only gained ten seconds and was brought back before the end of the lap. There was plenty of action at the back, with riders getting tailed off, touching wheels and falling, or suffering mechanicals. Ben Wiggins (Great Britain) was forced to chase back on, too.

Before the end of the first lap, Kristian Egholm (Denmark) followed his teammate's lead and attacked, pulling away with Viktor Soenens (Belgium) and William Heffernan (Australia), with Romet Pajur (Estonia) trying to bridge.

Before the end of the lap, the breakaway had swelled to 13 riders with Enea Sambinello (Italy), Pierre Basset (France), Timothee Coudiere Cantin (France), Landbo, William Holmes (Australia), Halvor Dolven (Norway), Jaider Muñoz (Colombia), Dawid Lewandowski (Poland), Mil Morang (Luxembourg) and Alejandro Granados (Costa Rica). They were chased by Enaut Urcaregui (Spain) and Jaka Marolt (Slovenia) at 13 seconds, and the majority of the peloton at 50 seconds at the end of lap 2.

When a powerful chasing group set off in pursuit, with Cameron Rogers (Australia), Noah Andersen (Denmark), Victor Loulergue and Ugo Fabries (France), Jasper Schoofs (Belgium), David Haverdings and Guus van den Eijnden (Netherlands), Samuel Novak (Slovakia), Ashlin Barry (USA), Ben Wiggins (Great Britain) and Patryk Goszczurny (Poland), the peloton quickly shut it down, and the race was all back together on the fourth lap.

An attack then came from Samuel Novak (Slovakia), with William Heffernan (Australia) bridging across along with Mattie Dodd (Great Britain), Kristian Egholm (Denmark) and Ashlin Barry (USA).

By the end of the sixth lap, the five riders had pushed their lead out to just over two minutes, but an attack from Dodd at the start of the seventh lap with 75km remaining, saw him go clear of the group and force a chase from Heffernan, Novák and Barry, completely distancing Egholm from the breakaway.

The efforts were short lived and the quintet reconnected before the start of the eighth lap but their lack of cooperation had reduced the gap to 1:45.

By the time they reached the ninth lap, a six rider chase group broke off the front of the field that included Matteo Scalco (Italy), Rémi Arsac (France), Matteo Van Huffel (Belgium), Max Brok (Germany), Jacob Bush (Great Britain) and Jack Ward (Australia) and were in pursuit.

Egholm found his second wind and surged on the Camillien-Houde ascent with Barry bridging the gap. The pair gained a slim seven seconds on Dodd, Heffernan and Novák. However the remnants of that original breakaway were reabsorbed into a larger selection of 25 riders that formed behind, leaving Egholm and Barry out front with a 45-second advantage.

With riders from Belgium and Switzerland setting the pace, the gap to the two breakaway riders was slashed to just 30 seconds with 30km to go. Barry took his chances and surged distancing himself from Egholm.

With two laps remaining, Barry pushed on in front of a chase group of five: Matisse van Kerckhove (Belgium), Hector Alvarez (Spain) Guus van den Eijnden (Netherlands), and Cameron Rogers (Australia), with Egholm tucking in behind them. At the bell, Barry still held out hope with his gap hovering at 40 seconds over the quintet and 1:08 on the larger peloton.

As his rivals behind began to look at each other to chase, Barry just kept powering ahead and only extended his lead to win the gold medal.

Results

After four riders announced their departure in recent weeks, SD Worx-Protime are ramping up their recruitment with Axelle Dubau-Prévôt heading to the Dutch team in 2027.

Dubau-Prévôt will join the squad for two years and is the second French woman the team have recruited from EF Education-Oatly in recent weeks, with Cédrine Kerbaol announced earlier in September.

Though the 30-year-old Dubau-Prévôt only has one season riding at WorldTour level, and only returned to the road in 2025, she has competed in cyclocross, mountain bike and gravel, bagging top results in the latter discipline.

She rode with some success on the road as a junior, then spent the 2017 and 2018 seasons riding at Continental level for Spanish and Belgian teams. Despite this, her 2026 season was hugely successful, with 10th place at Liège-Bastogne-Liège as her outstanding result on the road. In gravel races this year, she has plenty of top-10 placings, with third at the European Championships her most notable result.

"We are convinced that Axelle still has plenty of room for improvement," the team’s sporting director Danny Stam said, admitting they have been following her since the UAE Tour in February.

“Precisely because we want to strengthen our squad for the Ardennes classics, she’s an excellent fit for us. As she had to ride many races in support of the team last season, we haven’t yet seen the best of her. There’s certainly still room for improvement when it comes to climbing.”

Dubau-Prévôt admitted she is still new to the sport, saying, "It wasn’t until 2026 that I turned fully professional for the first time. Before that, I combined cycling with my job as a nutritionist. I knew I had talent, but I thought, ‘What if I went all out for it?’

"After Liège-Bastogne-Liège, I got calls from several teams. I took a chance with Team SD Worx-Protime. I’ve been following this team for years. It’s a dream to now be part of it. It feels a bit bizarre: ten years ago, my career was more or less over, and now, in my thirties, I’m suddenly a member of one of the best cycling teams in the world."

Dubau-Prévôt, the sister of 2025 Tour de France Femmes champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, is the fourth rider to sign with SD Worx this year, balancing their losses, and joins Kerbaol, Eline Jansen and Rachele Barbieri.

Leaving the team are Marta Lach, Blanka Vas, Femke Markus and Julia Kopecký, while Elena Cecchini will retire after 15 years as a professional.

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Paul Seixas may only just have turned 20 this week, but the young Frenchman is already aiming for the biggest goal possible in the Road World Championships elite men's race on Sunday – and he will have an entire team at his disposal to help him achieve it.

Second in the GP de Montréal less than a fortnight ago, and a surprise bronze medallist in the elite men's time trial last Sunday, Seixas spent no small amount of time in the French elite men team's press conference earlier this week weighing up the considerable strength in depth of the opposition.

In terms of possible winning scenarios for Sunday, Seixas said he had been working specifically in training on his sprints, which he feels could well be necessary for him to succeed.

However, as he also warned, any battle for the victory after 270 kilometres is a very different beast to how finishes tend to play out after shorter races than the Worlds. But with his team backing him 100%, he said, and some great form, his morale going into what is only his second elite men's road race this autumn – he was 13th in Kigali last year – could only be high.

Asked if he needed to finish solo to win gold, Seixas explained that that might not be necessary, due to the inherent difficulty of such a hilly, long race, with nearly 4,000 metres of vertical climbing.

"It doesn't matter which rider you are, they'll all tell you they prefer to finish alone because it's the simplest way of winning," Seixas said in comments reported by L'Équipe.

"But finishing with several riders on Sunday could actually help me. I'm not the slowest rider in the world and I've been working on that [his sprint] once a week. That helps me maintain my explosiveness which can be important.

"At the end of 270 kilometres of racing, it's never the same. The finish is hard and we'll have to see about the wind direction as well."

When it comes to being in the best position possible to take advantage of whatever circumstances Sunday throws at him, Seixas agreed that he felt complimented regardless at being given the role of sole leader for France.

"I know that I am physically capable of keeping up with the best, and the team is aware of that too. Do I feel the pressure? A little, but that is normal.

"Our ambition is simple: we want to win that title. Given my form, anything other than gold would really be a disappointment."

Although Seixas was unable to beat Isaac del Toro (Mexico) on exactly the same terrain in the GP de Montréal, he did not feel overly troubled by the prospect of a similar scenario playing out again. His main concern, he explained, was to do with the pace of the competition, and keeping it as high as possible.

"What suits me the best is for the racing to be made tough," he explained.

"We'll see how we do that, but we haven't had the pre-race meeting yet. [French team coach] Thomas Voeckler always has some ideas in his head about those questions, and I'm waiting to see what they are."

"In theory, the Belgians are the top favourites, with Wout van Aert and Remco Evenepoel. They have two really strong leaders for two different scenarios, so it'll be up to them to control the race from the gun. But we'll see what we can do to challenge them."

Similar but not the same

Just as Tom Pidcock argued a little later in the week, Seixas felt that despite having such a similar course, the Worlds would not be the same kind of event as the GP de Montréal.

"The long approach road to the circuit" – around 110 kilometres of racing – "changes things, and so does the lower number of laps" – 12 in the Worlds, 16 in Montréal.

"To define what kind of rider can win on it, you'll just have to see how the course actually plays out. It's very open."

Seixas said he had shifted his focus since the Worlds time trial completely, even if the bronze medal he took there was an excellent memory, to be sure that he kept his eye on what is the main prize: Sunday's road race.

"That's how it should be. I did the time trial well, but I've moved onto something else," he said.

"I trained well, I've done some endurance work and I'm ready for the road race. My TT medal doesn't change things enormously, the two races don't have anything in common, but it does show I'm in good form, and that I've kept that good form in the last few days.

"That gives me some more confidence for Sunday, but it doesn't change things so much."

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South Africa's Ashleigh Moolman Pasio is gearing up for her last outing on the road as a professional, with Saturday's elite women's road race at the World Championships set to draw to a close her 17-year career.

The very last dance of Moolman Pasio's career will be at the Gravel World Championships in Nannup, Australia next month, she confirmed in a blog post on Friday, but Montreal will be her final road race as a professional.

Turning 41 in December, Moolman Pasio has been racing on the European UCI circuit since 2009, gaining her first UCI contract in 2010 with Lotto Ladies Team when she was 24, and she's been a stalwart of the peloton ever since then, for a long time one of the only African cyclists in the bunch.

Her career has spanned nearly two decades, and she's extended it multiple times in the last few years: she originally laid out her intentions to retire in 2022, then at the end of 2024, but extended her contract with AG Insurance-Soudal to bring her to the end of 2026.

Transitioning into the role of mentor and road captain in the last few years, she already has an important new career lined up: she will take over as the general manager of Team Amani for the 2027 season, aiming to help the team become the first African squad to race the Tour de France Femmes.

But first, there's the matter of closing the curtain on her own racing career.

"Now, I find myself in Montreal, just days away from my final road race," she wrote in a blog post on the Rocacorba Collective website, her cycling community founded in Girona.

"The preparation has not been completely smooth. I have not raced as much as I would have liked during the second half of the season, but I have continued to find ways to challenge myself. Racing virtually has helped me grow stronger week by week, push beyond my comfort zone and enjoy the process of building towards one final goal on the road.

"So, one last time on the road, I have done everything I can to prepare. I have arrived here in good shape, confident in my form and ready to give this final road race one enormous shot. I want to race bravely. I want to empty the tank. Most of all, I want to cross that finish line knowing that I gave everything I had, with no regrets."

On Saturday, she will form part of a four-rider South Africa team, alongside Hayley Preen, Tiffany Keep and Lisa Bone. In some years, she has been South Africa's sole representative at the World Championships, but will line up alongside her compatriots this year, as well as riders from Mauritius, Zimbabwe, Eritrea, Rwanda and multiple other African nations.

"My racing journey will not be completely over - there is still one final adventure awaiting me at the Gravel World Championships - but Montreal will close an enormous and defining chapter of my life," she wrote.

"Then, I will be ready to move into the next one: using everything this sport has taught me to help pave the way for the next generation of African cyclists. To share my experience, knowledge and belief with young riders who may not yet realise what is possible - just as I once could not imagine what was possible for me."

In her blog post, she shared various anecdotes and stories from her career, including the holiday with her now-husband Carl where he became convinced she could be one of the world's finest cyclists, and the decision to leave the world of study and engineering to pursue a career in the sport.

"After graduating, we took an enormous leap of faith and moved to Europe so I could try to build a professional cycling career. I could never have imagined where that decision would lead," she wrote.

"I never dreamt that I would compete at four Olympic Games, win mountain stages of the Giro, stand on the Giro podium multiple times, finish on the podium at Flèche Wallonne, win Emakumeen Bira and the Tour de Romandie, or become the first UCI Cycling Esports World Champion during the pandemic. I certainly never imagined that I would spend 17 years racing among the very best cyclists in the world."

She also reflected on how her career has changed and evolved over the years, such as taking more interest in virtual racing during the pandemic, setting up the Rocacorba Collective and its ambitions to empower female riders, the biggest lessons of her career, and recovering from a broken back in 2024.

"Seventeen years ago, I arrived in Europe with a dream that initially felt far too big," she wrote. "Now, as I prepare to pin on a number for my final road race, I can look back with immense pride and gratitude. Not only for the results, but for the person this journey has helped me become, for the people who have walked it with me and for the community that will remain long after the racing ends.

"One last race on the road. One final opportunity to give it everything. No regrets."

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The Dutch women came into this Road World Championships in Montreal with a unique strategy compared to previous years; the nucleus centred on one rider. While it may seem obvious that Demi Vollering, the world's top rider, would lead the charge, it wasn't a slam dunk.

The decision breaks from the multi-faceted options used in the past by the Dutch team. Vollering is a prolific winner, but she has never won a world or national title. But you can't ignore that she is a European Champion, has two yellow jerseys from the Tour de France Femmes and plenty of momentum coming into Canada.

"She is incredibly focused, that's true. Two days after the Tour de France, I got the first message already from her, 'OK, job's not finished'. I was like, 'OK, she's on'," Laurens ten Dam, the Dutch coach, told Cyclingnews on Thursday evening.

"I think 10 days after the Tour de France, I saw her [at a F1 race] and I saw the fire in her eyes. It showed me that she's not done yet with the season. She wants to have this jersey for next season, so that's the most important."

He said the team selection was made looking at all results, as well as how races unfolded. While there is no Marianne Vos or Anna van der Breggen [out with illness – Ed.], he said the team was solid and "Demi is the biggest chance of winning".

"I think Laurens especially did a really good job with [team selection]. He had a lot of contact with everyone, and he also reported back to me. All the girls are fully on board with that," Vollering told a small media gathering, including Cyclingnews, two days before the road race.

"We have a nice selection here and also really a luxury position representing the Netherlands. We have Anna [van der Breggen] out, of course, and Chantal [van den Broek-Blaak, retired - Ed.] is out, but in the end I don't necessarily think that we have a lesser team here.

"I really think that we have a very nice plan that is super clear for all of us, but of course I'm not going to tell you that. We can say afterwards, I think," she laughed.

This year she lines up with Karlijn Swinkels, Riejanne Markus, Lieke Nooijen, Puck Pieterse, Amber Kraak and Femke De Vries. Last year, Markus was fifth in the Worlds road race, while Swinkels is in form, having recently won the GP de Wallonie.

"I also kind of like specific pressure, that all these riders are [supporting] you now. That ultimately gives me that extra percentage on the course later, during the race, to be able to finish it off, and I actually thrive on that. [It is] a bit of a sense of responsibility to also give the girls a reward for their work."

The reigning European Champion goes back to work at her first UCI race since winning back-to-back Grand Tours. And before that, she dominated the spring with wins at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, the Tour of Flanders, La Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège for a third time.

"I think I'm in good shape, but in the end, you only really start feeling that when you're riding around on the course and when you also see the competition," she said.

"I also think this is a course where, if you don't have the absolute best legs, you can still come a very long way. So even if the feeling isn't 100%, then you should never lose hope, because it's so long. I think it can really become a very interesting race in that regard."

The elite women face a hilly 180.1km route that favours Vollering, with the closing Mount Royal circuit done eight times, featuring the Camillien-Houde climb.

Her Worlds road race history consists of a silver in Glasgow, fifth in Zurich, and seventh places in Leuven and Kigali. She wants to add a rainbow jersey, but it is not ever-present in her mindset going into race day.

"Hopefully this is the reward, but we don't know; that is something we don't have in control. But what we do during the race, we have control, so that's more what I thought.

"This year I've shown that whether the climbs are shorter or longer, that I'm in a position to make a difference in different places. I definitely think it can be a Demi-course if it's just made hard enough."

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