With Tadej Pogačar still out due to an injury, Canada is set to crown a new men’s cycling world champion as the UCI Road World Championships 2026 got underway on Sunday.
A star-studded slate of cycling’s best descended in Montreal this week in a bid to defend their titles or bring glory to their countries across various events such as time trials and road races in the juniors, under 23s and elite categories.
Titles for the individual and mixed team time trials were already awarded earlier this week, but everyone will be eagerly waiting for the road races — where the fight for the world crown is expected to blow up.
Repeat TT wins for Marlen Reusser, Remco Evenepoel
Worlds started with the individual time trials on Sunday, during which Marlen Reusser of Switzerland and Remco Evenepoel of Belgium successfully defended their titles in the women and men’s elite category.
It offered a promising prospect for the road races, where both will be gunning to take the crowns there.
Tensions were high when rival British rider Zoe Backstedt became the fastest at the first two intermediate time checks before Reusser powered through in the second half of the race to defend her title.
The win was also particulalry special, as Reusser competed on her birthday.
“It’s a good present,” Reusser said after the race.
“I also thought, win or not, I have something to celebrate.”
Meanwhile, Evenepoel became the first man to win the TT four times in a row, building up on his amazing season this year after winning the Amstel Gold Race, Clásica San Sebastián and Grand Prix de Québec and finishing second in the Tour de France behind Pogačar.
Benjamin Noval of Spain and Maria Okrucińska of Poland won the men and women’s junior categories of the individual TT, while Ryan Gal of the Netherlands and Felicity Wilson-Haffenden of Australia cruised to victory in the under 23 categories.
Italy showed a dominating force in the team time trial mixed relay to take home the win, beating France and Switzerland, which finished second and third, respectively. Defending champions Australia had to settle outside the podium.
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Demi Vollering continues bid for world title
Road races officially start on Thursday with the under 23 and juniors’ categories before concluding on Sunday with the elite races.
In the women’s, Dutch rider Demi Vollering, who won the Giro d’Italia Women and the Tour de France femmes this year, will have her eyes on the title, which is being defended by Canada’s very own Magdeleine Vallières.
But they will have to work a bit harder to secure the coveted crown with the presence of former world champion Lotte Kopecky of Belgium, Kasia Niewiadoma Phinney of Poland, Kim Le Court of Mauritius and Elisa Longo Borghini of Italy.
“World Championships are incredibly difficult, of course, especially because you aren’t racing with your own team,” Vollering told Wielerflits after the Tour de France Femmes.
“That makes it a real challenge to take control of the race. But it is definitely a goal of mine.”
Evenepoel targets another rainbow jersey
For the men’s, Pogogacar’s absence has made the competition even harder to predict.
Evenepoel may want to secure both the TT and road race titles, and his ambition regarding his “Project Canada” had been clear even before the world championships took off.
“In every race, I’ll aim as high as possible. That’s how I start every race, so I won’t approach these races any differently,” he said in an interview cited by Cycling News.
“How often has a rider won both the time trial and the road race at the same World Championship? Never,” he said.
“That was my goal last year, and it is again this year. It is something I want to do in my career.”
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Rivals meet again
However, the road to victory will be dire and difficult, because even without Pogačar, Evenepoel will have to compete against French prodigy Paul Seixas and Mexican wonder Isaac del Toro.
Both have shown astounding forms this year as one of cycling’s newest rivalries.
Seixas finished third in the ITT podium last Sunday and second in the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal the week before – which just shows he’s still very much in the fight.
On the other hand, Del Toro beat Seixas in the youth classification and stood on the podium in third right next to mentor Pogačar in the Tour de France.
His win in the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal, during which he outsprinted Seixas, also means he will be a storm waiting to wreak havoc on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Wout van Aert, who is technically Evenepoel’s teammate for Belgium, may target a chance at the top of the worlds podium after winning Paris-Roubaix and the green jersey at this year’s La Vuelta.
Van Aert’s presence has also reignited a fiery reunion with long-time rival Mathieu van der Poel, who will be competing for the Netherlands.
Other great contenders eyeing the title include Tom Pidcock of Great Britain and Felix Gall of Austria.
It certainly will be an unpredictable battle ahead, and all eyes will be on the roads come Sunday to welcome this year’s world champions.
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