'You just give a look, and then you know' – Twin sisters Ava and Isabella Holmgren interview each other ahead of home World Championships

There's a trifecta of rich rewards awaiting two Canadian teammates who are also twin sisters, Ava and Isabella 'Bella' Holmgren, as they compete at the UCI Road World Championships in Montréal. They agreed that a home-country Worlds stacked the deck even before they reached a finish line - seeing and hearing family and friends nearby, competing side-by-side in the road race in unique Montréal-inspired national kits, and after it's all done, hunting down bagels from St-Viateur.

The 21-year-olds, who recently competed at Val di Sole at MTB Worlds, will compete next for Team Canada at Montréal Road Worlds. Ava is a contender for the U23 time trial on September 21 and both lead a strong group of five riders for the U23 road race on September 24.

"We're fraternal twins, but I think we're way more alike than any identical twins that I know. We're very different people, but our interests are very similar," said Isabella, the taller of the two.

Both grew up racing cyclo-cross and mountain bikes together, making history at the 2023 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships as the first Canadians to win medals of any colour, Isabella with gold and Ava with silver in the junior women's race. Ava had previously won a pair of Pan-American junior titles in 'cross.

They added hardware in the mountain bike discipline, Isabella sweeping U23 short track and XCO World Championship titles in 2024 and 2025, while Ava finished top 10 in both races in 2025.

In 2024, the pair signed their own contracts to race for Lidl-Trek to focus more on road racing; their contracts now extended through 2028.

Isabella won her first one-day race in 2025 at Durango-Durango and the GC at Tour de l'Avenir Femmes and ended the season with sixth in the U23 road race at Rwanda Worlds and fourth at Giro dell'Emilia. This year she finished seventh on GC at Giro d'Italia Women for a second consecutive season, confirming her abilities as an all-rounder. She also finished eighth overall at her first Tour de France Femmes.

Ava finished second on a stage at Tour de Normandie in 2024 to begin her Lidl-Trek tenure, then impressed with fourth in the U23 road race and 22nd in the elite women's road race at Road Worlds in Switzerland. She claimed her first road win at 2025 Canadian Road Nationals in the U23 time trial and this year had top 10s at the UCI 1.1 women's races in Gatineau prior to 2026 Road Worlds, including third at Tour de Gatineau.

The Holmgrens grew up in eastern Ontario and never seem to be far apart, in life and in work, so it seemed natural to let them interview each other about their newest journey and try to record more history for Canada. The duo shared their question and answer session with Cyclingnews, with an emphasis on the anticipation of racing for rainbow stripes not just for their home country, but also 'in' their home country.

Isabella Holmgren: So, you're doing the U23 time trial at Road World Championships in Montreal. Are you excited? And do you think the home crowd will be an advantage in a race like this?

Ava Holmgren: For sure, I'm really excited. It's a moment I've been looking forward to for a long time, and also the source of a lot of motivation in some hard trainings. And I think having familiar people saying my name on the sideline will give me all the extra boost that I need. If I'm having a good day or a bad day on the bike, it won't matter because I have some home supporters.

IH: Have you had any specific preparation going into the time trial, and what has the training looked like?

AH: I've been working on the time trial bike, and I'm looking forward to testing myself in this discipline again. After Mountain Bike Worlds, I just started training a lot more on the time trial bike and focused on some more efforts and staying in position, so that I'm more comfortable being uncomfortable, I guess.

IH: And the TT course, I know you haven't actually ridden it yourself yet, but do you think it suits you? And how do you see the course?

AH: I like the look of the course. I think with all of the turns, it breaks up the effort a little bit, and I really like that style of racing. I think I can try and corner as fast as possible, which could be an advantage. But I'll really need to use my technical abilities to the fullest to take the most advantage. So, looking forward to all the turns. I prefer a bit of a hillier time trial, but I think it'll be a nice mix.

AH: So, the men had the GP Montréal just a few days ago, and we watched it together. What was one of your main takeaways going into the World Championships, knowing that the course is similar?

IH: Yeah, it's nice that there's been other races, so you can kind of look back and have a reference on a similar course. It's also very similar to Rwanda, where it's a circuit and with some elevation. So, I think I can sort of learn from last year's race and see what I did well and see what I definitely needed to work on this year. It'll be super hard, especially because we only do laps of the circuit, unlike the women's race that goes out on a flat road. I think it'll be hard, but I like it hard.

AH: Our team for the U23 women's race has some riders that we've been racing with on national teams as juniors, and also against for a while, so we know each other pretty well. How do you think this could be an advantage?

IH: I think we have an extremely strong team, and we will definitely use it to our advantage. We have different riders that are good at different things, and I think it's a special feeling because we've raced with these girls in the past, and we're also just really good friends with them. All of the girls have been performing extremely well at the last races that they've done, and I'm really excited to see what we can do together. And I think when you have that relationship outside of the bike, it makes it even easier to work together.

Kiara Lylyk, I've known her for a really long time. We used to race cyclo-cross together. She did really well in a breakaway at a recent race in Europe.

And then there's Alex Volstad, I've done lots of national team project with her, like Avenir last year and she was second in Philadelphia Cycling Classic. She's very positive and happy and funny you just can't be in a bad mood when you're around her.

And then Sidney [Swierenga], I haven't actually raced with her in the past. She did extremely well in the recent Faun Tour Femmes. She's a really, really strong rider and I'm looking forward to racing with her.

AH: What else are you looking forward to, finally doing a home Worlds with some familiar faces?

IH: Just the fact that we're all Canadian and you're at your home Worlds is an extra little boost.

And it's also really special to race with you because you're my twin sister, and we're racing at home. We don't get to race together very often, or we haven't in the past. And I think just having you in a race is so nice. It makes me feel more comfortable and relaxed.

I know that you're very smart in race situations, and maybe that's something that I lack. So it's like you have the other half of your brain racing, which I guess people wouldn't understand unless they have a twin. So it's a unique feeling.

AH: (laughing) Yes. If you're at your max effort on the bike, you can't say any words because you need to breathe. You just give a look and then you know, right?

IH: (also laughing) We can have conversations without actually saying anything.

AH: What have you enjoyed the most this season on the road?

IH: I think I'm starting to learn a lot more of how to be positioned in the peloton and just racing with my teammates. Sometimes I lack a bit of confidence, and I get a bit nervous to be around my teammates, or in the bunch. So I think within the stage races that I've done, I've grown to be more confident and comfortable in that sort of environment throughout the year. I'm pretty proud of the step that I made versus last year.

IH: And what about you, Ava?

AH: For me, I'm most proud of being healthy on the start line. It's been a really big challenge the last few years and just having that good racing feeling again. Then I could really show the team what I'd learned, and I helped my teammates.

I think the race I'm most proud of was the GP Oetingen in Belgium in the spring. We had a really nice result with Fleur Moors, she was second and the only person to challenge Lorena [Wiebes] in the final. Everything just came together in the moment, and I felt fully focused the whole race, and I felt strong. I did my job really well, so it was a really exciting race.

IH: What are you looking forward to this next week at Worlds?

AH: Honestly, just being home in Canada. I'm really looking forward to spending some time here. The riding's been amazing. The staff on the Cycling Canada team have been super helpful, and it's great to see everyone, all categories, with a full team from Cycling Canada.

Even though it's a home Worlds, there's a lot of logistics, and not everyone is coming from Canada. A lot of people are coming from Europe, so it's a big challenge, and I'm really also looking forward to wearing this special edition kit. Yes, that's going to be hung up on the wall for a while.

AH: What besides racing are you excited about?

IH: That's a long list. We have a lot of family and friends that are gonna come and watch. They can always watch on TV, but it's so different when you see it in person, so I'm really excited for them to experience the atmosphere of a bike race. Because it's a circuit, I think that'll be even better because you get to see the riders so often.

And also, the first thing on the list after the road race is to go get bagels from St. Viateur in Montréal, a famous bagel place.

I also just think being in Canada is so nice, and having the Europeans come and experience our home, especially at this time of year when fall is starting, so I'm excited.

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