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.
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"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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