Road World Championships 2026 elite men's road race LIVE - Who will be Pogačar's successor? The battle for the rainbow jersey ignites in Montreal

Flag drop - 273.7km to go

And we're racing!

The huge peloton, of 184 riders, is off for the - unusual in a world championship - 4km neutral section before the flag drop.

Starting on the South Shore, in Brossard, the men head south for a loop through seven other municipalities in the Montérégie region such as Carignan, Chambly, Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Richelieu, Saint-Jean-Baptiste, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu and Saint-Mathias-sur-Richelieu before returning to Brossard and heading to Montréal.

The peloton will then ride the Samuel-De Champlain Bridge towards the Mount Royal circuit, which the men will do 12 times. The now-iconic circuit features several major challenges: the Voie Camillien-Houde, the Chemin de la Polytechnique, and the tough false flat rising along Avenue du Parc to the line.

It is the same circuit that all the road races faced. The elite men will race the circuit 12 times.

The first passing across the finish line will be with 160.8km to go.

It’s a cool morning in Brossard for the start, with cloudy skies and temperatures around 14°C. There’s a 10% chance of rain, with winds of 18 km/h across the Greater Montreal region.

10 minutes to the start of the race, where the men will face 3802 metres of elevation gain over the 273.7km course highlighted by the closing Mount Royal circuit.

The last two days of racing have seen 2-up sprints and solo breaks decide the winner. Yesterday’s elite women’s race delivered a thrilling, edge-of-your-seat finale. How will today’s winner be decided?

Who will succeed Pogačar in 2026? So many options in the wide-open race.

Check out the riders to watch in the men’s road race in our in-depth preview.

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

Hi. Bonjour. Welcome to our live report on Cyclingnews for the elite men’s road race, the final event of the 2026 UCI World Road Championships in Montréal, Canada. What a great week of racing we’ve had so far.