Road World Championships: Benjamín Noval delivers gold medal for Spain in junior men's time trial

Spain’s Benjamin Noval paced his rhythm perfectly on the twisty course in Montreal to take the victory in the junior men time trial at the 2026 UCI Road World Championships, beating Belgium’s Vic de Smet by six seconds.

The 17-year-old, already one of the top junior prospects in the world, controlled his pace in the first section, three seconds off the fastest time at the first split, but then upped the pace on the flat middle section and was able to get out of the saddle to sprint on the final wall to the finish line that had flummoxed multiple riders before him. Noval averaged 48.2kph on the 20.3km course.

Faster after six kilometres, De Smet lost time to Noval, 10 seconds down by the second check after 14.5km, and though he was able to gain some time back, the 17-year-old stayed in his aero position all the way to the finish line, to stop the clock at 25:23 for the silver medal.

Denmark’s Malthe Risbjerg, 18, also gained time in the second half of the course, finishing with a time of 25:34, 16 seconds from the winning time, and claimed the bronze medal.

The 40th rider to start, Julius Løvstrup Birkedal, the current Danish junior time trial champion, sat in the hot seat for some time, but ultimately finished off the podium in fourth place, with a time of 25:38, five hundredths of a second faster than fifth-place Patrik Pezzo Rosola (Italy).

"I think it was a goal from the start of the season, but, well, I wasn't entirely sure I had a real shot at it; I knew it was possible, but I still can't quite believe it. I’m still processing it all," Noval said.

Noval embraced his family, including his father, former professional cyclist Benjamín Noval, after winning the rainbow jersey.

"We’ve been working on this all season, especially for this final part of the season, so I prepared much better for the time trial and these World Championships; after last year, I felt it was time to get it done, and well, in the end, it was possible."

How it unfolded

The riders tackled the same twisty 20.3km course with 29 turns that the U23 women covered on Monday. After a technical opening descent, the race ran south alongside the St Lawrence River before turning 180 degrees and retracing its path to finish with the 400-metre, 6.1% uphill drag to the line.

The race was wide open, with last year’s winner Michiel Mouris (Netherlands) and runner-up Ashlin Barry (United States) both moving up to the under-23 ranks, while third-placed Seff Van Kerckhove (Belgium) was ruled out after being hit by a driver while training.

In slightly overcast conditions and a cool 13°C, Zimbabwe’s Rohnan Nicholson was the first rider to leave the start ramp, setting the quickest time of the early starters with a time of 27:52.
His time in the hot seat would be short, as the seventh rider out of 68 riders, Vanja Kuntarič (Slovenia), blitzed his way to the hot seat, averaging 46.1km/hr, to stop the clock at 26:25.

For the next 40 minutes, Kuntarič watched as riders came close but were not able to beat his time, such as Jose Rodriguez (Mexico) who finished six seconds off the pace and New Zealand junior national champion Alex Botha, who came close in the two time checks but ultimately finished with the sixth-fastest time so far. Australia’s Lachlan Stewart started off strong, clocking only one second down on the first time check, but could not hold the pace and finished with a time of 26:51.

To the delight of the fans, Zachari Moreau put in an impressive ride. After a fast start, the Canadian lost some time through the flat middle section but finished strongly in 26:49, briefly moving into third place.

Spain’s Raul Lopez followed a different pacing strategy, increasing his pace at both splits before crossing the finish line with a time of 26:30, four seconds off the pace of Kuntarič.

Then the fastest time changed hands three times, first with the Netherlands’ Thijs Wiersma and then Norway’s Mads Furenes. Wiersma posted the quickest times at the first two splits, but Furenes steadily closed the gap, cutting his deficit from seven seconds to three before crossing the finish line in 26:10, six seconds faster than Wiersma.

But reigning Danish junior time trial champion Julius Løvstrup Birkedal was not far behind. After setting the fastest time at the 14.5km mark, Birkedal continued to increase his pace, stopping the clock at 25:38 to set a new best time, 32 seconds faster than Furenes.

Like many riders on this twisty course, Gijs Winter had trouble keeping the pace, after setting the fastest time at the first split, the Dutch rider had fallen back and finished off the podium with a time of 26:12.

Meanwhile, Spain’s Benjamin Noval was three seconds off at the first split, but then blasted through the flat section to set the fastest time at the next split. Averaging 48.2km/hr, Noval bested Birkedal’s time by 21 seconds with 25:17.

Noval then watched the final eight riders come through. Denmark’s Malthe Risbjerg was 18 seconds down at the second time check but could only claw back two seconds, finishing in 25:34. Belgian Via de Smet was faster at the first check but had slipped 10 seconds behind eight kilometres later. De Smet rallied in the closing kilometres to finish just six seconds off the winning time, moving into second and pushing Risbjerg down to third.

Results