Vallieres Mill's title defence, Kopecky's comeback and is Demi Vollering actually unstoppable? - Analysing the World Championships elite women's road race contenders

The final weekend of the Road World Championships is coming up, and the elite road races are headlining the event as the cream of the crop of the women's and men's pelotons head to Montreal.

The elite women's road race is held on Saturday, September 26, and a peloton of 148 riders will be 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%).

Home racer Magdeleine Vallieres Mill will be defending the title she won last year in Kigali, Rwanda, but there are a host of other big names lining up at the start in Brossard, hoping to take home the rainbow jersey.

Here are our contenders for the elite women's road race at the 2026 UCI Road World Championships.

Demi Vollering (Netherlands)

Dutch racer Demi Vollering lines up as the top favourite for glory this weekend, having swept almost all before her this season.

Vollering dominated the spring with wins at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, the Tour of Flanders, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, and La Flèche Wallonne before doing the double in Grand Tour season with wins at the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France.

Her most recent outing was an eighth-place finish in the Worlds time trial this week, finishing 1:49 down on Marlen Reusser, but she's better suited to the hilly road race. Her Worlds road race history consists of a second place in Glasgow, fifth in Zurich, and seventh places in Leuven and Kigali.

Vollering will line up with the strongest support squad in the race, with Karlijn Swinkels, Riejanne Markus (fifth last year, Lieke Nooijen, Puck Pieterse, Amber Kraak, and Femke De Vries all on hand to support her rainbow jersey bid.

Marlen Reusser (Switzerland)

Swiss team leader Marlen Reusser is riding high after her Worlds time trial triumph this week, where she dominated the 39.2km ride to win by 40 seconds over Zoe Bäckstedt.

This season, she's won the Dwars door Vlaanderen and Tour de Suisse, also wearing the Tour de France yellow jersey before falling out of contention during the final weekend.

Reusser has been a perennial contender in the Worlds road race, with fourth place in Glasgow her best result to date. Last year, she raced to ninth place in Kigali, and she'll be aiming for the medals here.

There'll be no Elise Chabbey (fourth last year) in the Swiss squad, but Tour Down Under champion Noemi Rüegg will be on hand as Reusser's primary lieutenant.

Kim Le Court-Pienaar (Mauritius)

Nestled among this list of leaders of major cycling nations is Kim Le Court-Pienaar, who leads Mauritius' two-woman squad in Montreal.

Despite that disadvantage (World Cycling Centre rider Lucie de Marigny-Lagesse is her only teammate), Le Court-Pienaar still lines up among the top favourites for the rainbow jersey.

She's one of the peloton's top puncheurs, having risen to that status in the past two seasons with wins at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, two stages of the Tour de France, and a recent triumph at the Tour of Britain.

The hilly route is very well-suited to her abilities, and she finished in eighth place last year, showing she's more than capable of racing to a high placing at the race's end.

Lotte Kopecky (Belgium)

Along with reigning champion Vallieres Mill, Belgian leader Lotte Kopecky is the only previous World Champion lining up at the start this Saturday. The 30-year-old won the rainbow jersey in Glasgow and Zurich but didn't take part last year.

She skipped Worlds in 2025 after being plagued by a back problem throughout the year, and she hasn't quite hit the same all-conquering level since.

This spring she took a big win at Milan-San Remo as well as taking victory at Nokere Koerse and a stage of La Vuelta Femenina. She's had less to shout about in the summer, however, barring a second-place finish from the break on the hilly stage 3 at the Tour de France.

You can never count out a past champion like Kopecky, though, so she'll be one to watch this weekend. A support squad of Shari Bossuyt, Lotte Claes, Julie Van de Velde, Margot Vanpachtebeke, and Sandrine Tas will race in support of her bid to do the triple.

Paula Blasi (Spain)

Paula Blasi is racing just her second elite road race after making her debut in Zurich two years ago.

She has enjoyed a rapid rise since then. Last year she won the Tour de Romandie, became under-23 European champion, and took bronze in the under-23 road race in Kigali. This season, she's taken wins at Amstel Gold Race and La Vuelta Femenina, as well as the Tour Féminin des Pyrénées and the Volta a Catalunya and a fifth overall at the Tour de France.

Blasi has been one of the breakout riders of the year and lines up among the favourites and the leader of a strong Spanish squad in Montreal. Supporting her rainbow jersey bid are Mavi García (third last year), Mireia Benito, Usoa Ostolaza, Sandra Alonso, and Sara Martín.

Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy)

Italy leader Elisa Longo Borghini is once again on the hunt for the rainbow jersey, having previously picked up three bronze medals (Valkenburg 2012, Imola 2020, Zurich 2024) and two other top-five finishes (Richmond 2015, Harrogate 2019).

She's a perennial contender at the Worlds and similar hilly races, and she's had a good year, with wins at the UAE Tour and the Italian Championships as well as a stage and fourth overall at the Giro d'Italia and a long-awaited podium at the Tour de France.

Morale will be high, too, after Italy sped to the rainbow jersey at the TTT mixed relay midweek, while Longo Borghini is clearly in good form after racing to fourth in the individual time trial.

Francesca Barale, Sara Casasola, Eleonora Gasparrini, Erica Magnaldi, Silvia Persico, and Monica Trinca Colonel form a strong backup squad for their leader.

Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Poland)

Poland's Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney is another rider who regularly heads to Worlds as a top contender, though she hasn't had the best of luck in her last three appearances, with 10th place in Kigali her best result.

She has a fifth place (at Bergen 2017) and a bronze (at Leuven 2021) on her palmarès, and she's always been strong on this kind of hilly circuit, with wins at the Ardennes Classics and Trofeo Binda to her name.

This season, there have been plenty of second places at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Strade Bianche, Amstel Gold Race, and the Tour de France, while her big win of the year came in France atop Mont Ventoux.

Once again, Niewiadoma-Phinney will face off against her major rival Demi Vollering, though she hasn't raced since the Tour, so we have no way to gauge her current form. She'll no doubt be ready to contend, though, and she'll have Dominika Włodarczyk, Marta Lach, Marta Jaskulska, and Kaja Rysz backing her up.

Célia Gery (France)

Reigning under-23 world champion Célia Gery is stepping up to the elite level this year and could immediately be a contender after a very strong second season among the pros.

Last year, Gery won three stages of the Tour de l'Avenir before triumphing in Kigali. This season, she's won Brabantse Pijl, the GP de Chambéry, a stage of the Giro d'Italia, and the French national title. That's in addition to providing vital assistance in Demi Vollering's Giro and Tour victories.

The lead-in to Worlds has seen her on the podium twice at the Ponte de Raz and GP de Wallonie, so she's clearly in good form.

Alongside Gery, France can look to Cédrine Kerbaol and Juliette Berthet as potential outsiders, while Marie Le Net, Léa Curinier, Maëva Squiban, and Evita Muzic round out a very strong lineup.

Others to watch

Magdeleine Vallieres Mill won the rainbow jersey for Canada last year. Her win was an outsider's triumph, coming against the odds with a late breakaway. It would be a surprise to see her win again, though nothing can be ruled out. Her 24-year-old teammate Sarah Van Dam, racing her first elite Worlds, has enjoyed a strong season and is in form, so might be a better shout.

New Zealand will be led by Niamh Fisher-Black, who raced to a silver medal in Kigali. She's in good form, too, after racing to second place at the Faun Tour Femmes in the lead-up to Montreal.

Germany have several options to count on in the form of Paris-Roubaix champion Franziska Koch, 2024 fourth-place finisher Liane Lippert, and young star Antonia Niedermaier, who finished sixth in Kigali. 23-year-old Niedermaier, who finished seventh in the recent time trial, is probably their best bet.

After over a year away from racing, Sarah Gigante was back in the peloton at the recent Faun Tour Femmes. She'll lead Australia here, but while she has the class to contend on a hilly course, it would be surprising to see her at her best here after such a long layoff.

Kate Courtney takes on her first Road World Championships, having already won rainbow jerseys on the mountain bike. She doesn't have too much experience on the road bike, but her National Championships win and a positive outing at the Tour of Britain show she could be one to watch.

Great Britain don't have an outright favourite, but Lauren Dickson could be in with a shout after a strong neo-pro season which has seen her take 11th at the Giro, plus third places at Itzulia Women and the Faun Tour Femmes. Zoe Bäckstedt also lines up following her time trial bronze, though the course is likely too hilly for the 22-year-old.

Other outsiders to watch include Caroline Andersson (Sweden), who finished 11th last year, Christina Schweinberger (Austria), who was fifth in Glasgow, and Tour de France breakaway hero Sigrid Haugset (Norway).

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