2026 Road Cycling World Championships in Montréal: Route and favourites in the men’s elite category

​The 2026 Road World Championships are heading towards their grand finale: on Sunday 27 September, the world’s best professional road cyclists will battle it out for the rainbow jersey in Montréal. Spanning 273.7 kilometres and featuring 3,803 metres of elevation gain, the course is set to be a gruelling test of endurance, not so much because of a single difficult mountain but due to the constant succession of climbs up Mont Royal.

Following the time trial events and the road races for the junior categories, the men’s elite road race traditionally brings the World Championships to a close. The race will start at 3.00 pm Central European Time at the Quartier Dix30 in Brossard, south of Montréal, with the finish line at Parc Jeanne-Mance. The new world champion is expected to cross the finish line at around 9.40 pm.

The World Championships offer an interesting mix of a long build-up and a demanding finale. The race starts in Brossard and winds its way through the Montérégie region before the riders reach Montréal and the decisive circuit on Mont Royal. There, an elimination race begins, with the elevation gain mounting lap by lap. The professionals must complete the 13.4-kilometre-long final circuit twelve times, meaning that around 161 kilometres will be covered on this circuit alone.

The men’s elite race

With a distance of 273.7 kilometres and 3,803 metres of elevation gain, the Men’s World Championships are, on paper at least, an exceptionally long and selective one-day race. Starting from Quartier Dix30, the route initially passes through the Montérégie region. Among other places, the route passes through Carignan, Chambly, Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Richelieu, Saint-Jean-Baptiste, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu and Saint-Mathias-sur-Richelieu before entering Montréal.

That is where the nature of the race changes fundamentally. Twelve laps of 13.4 kilometres each take place around Mont Royal. The riders climb around 269 metres in altitude per lap; a large part of the decisive course has already been covered by the Montréal Cycling Grand Prix It is well known. However, the World Championship version features changes to the finish area and links this circuit to the long approach straight from Brossard.

Camillien-Houde as a key location

Mont Royal forms the centrepiece of the circuit. The Voie Camillien-Houde is one of the key sections there, which is likely to challenge the peloton anew with every passage. As the men will complete the final circuit a total of twelve times, this section offers repeated opportunities to increase the pace and gradually thin out the field. The organisers themselves explicitly list Camillien-Houde as one of the major challenges of the World Championship course.

But even after that, there is hardly any time to catch one’s breath. The Chemin de la Polytechnique marks another significant climb on the circuit. The organisers have identified sections here with gradients of more than eleven per cent, which could make this stretch ideal for attacks, particularly in the final laps. What is decisive here is not so much a single long climb as the sequence of challenges: over twelve laps, the strain builds up and is likely to ensure that the balance of power becomes increasingly apparent as the race progresses.

Even after the final climbs, the race is still far from decided. The home straight on the Avenue du Parc runs along an uphill ‘false flat’, meaning that even the run-in to the finish line demands an extra burst of energy. Should a small group reach the decisive stage together, the decisive factor – alongside tactical skill – is likely to be who still has the necessary explosive power for the finale after nearly 274 kilometres. The combination of repeated climbs, short recovery phases and the uphill finish makes the circuit a classic route for a long elimination race.

The favourites: Three riders are in the spotlight

​As open as the battle for the rainbow jersey may seem, three names stand out in particular ahead of the World Championships road race: Remco Evenepoel, Paul Seixas and Isaac del Toro. The Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal, in particular, provided a remarkable indication of form just under two weeks before the World Championships. Del Toro won ahead of Seixas, whilst Evenepoel finished fifth. As large sections of the World Championships final take place on the same roads on Mont Royal, this result is particularly significant, even though the World Championships race, at 273.7 kilometres, presents a different challenge altogether.

What speaks in Evenepoel’s favour, apart from his class, is above all his current form. The Belgian had already won the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec before becoming world champion in the individual time trial for the fourth time in a row at the start of the World Championships week. There, he prevailed with a 57-second lead over Filippo Ganna, whilst Seixas finished third. Now Evenepoel, the 2022 road world champion, can set his sights on his second title in the road race. His greatest strength is likely to be the key tactical question of the race: will he let it come down to a late decision, or will he try to put his rivals under pressure with an attack well before the finish?

Isaac del Toro has been at least as impressive of late. The Mexican won the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal ahead of Seixas, thereby demonstrating – on terrain relevant to the World Championships – just how well he copes with the repeated demands of Mont Royal. Del Toro and Seixas were both able to break away from their rivals in the process. A particular strength in Del Toro’s favour is the direct relevance of his most recent performance to the course. This almost inevitably propels Paul Seixas into the front row of contenders as well. The Frenchman was beaten only by Del Toro in the Montréal test and confirmed his form once again a few days later by winning bronze in the World Championships individual time trial.

Van Aert and Van der Poel are lying in wait

Hot on the heels of this trio comes a particularly strong second group. It includes Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel – two riders for whom a gruelling race characterised by constant changes in pace generally presents opportunities. Both also have plenty of World Championship experience; Van der Poel himself won the rainbow jersey in 2023 and underlined his form on the final stage of the Tour de Luxembourg with his historic solo victory a striking shape.

For Belgium, Van Aert and Evenepoel also present an interesting tactical scenario. A recent World Championships preview explicitly highlights the possibility for the Belgian team to adopt an attacking approach with Evenepoel or to opt for Van Aert. For their rivals, this very dual leadership could prove problematic: it is not possible to control every move made by one Belgian rider without thereby opening up opportunities for the other.

The extended line-up also includes Juan Ayuso, Mauro Schmid, Quinn Simmons, Brandon McNulty and Primož Roglič. McNulty, in particular, has already put in a strong performance on this type of course, finishing third at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal, whilst Simmons came fourth, close behind him. Both finished ahead of Evenepoel and Tom Pidcock, behind Del Toro and Seixas. In a World Championships race that opens up early and in which the nominal favourites are not the only ones able to control the pace, both are therefore among the interesting contenders for an attacking race strategy.

German hopes and dangerous underdogs

Behind them is a whole host of riders who may not be among the very top favourites for victory, but who could finish well up the field if the race unfolds in the right way. These include Felix Gall, Mads Pedersen, Florian Lipowitz, Tom Pidcock, Adam Yates and Giulio Ciccone. This diversity also highlights just how difficult the race is to predict: climbers face off against puncheurs and classics specialists, with the course not clearly favouring any one type of rider.

Pidcock has already shown that he can hold his own in Canada. He finished fourth at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec and then sixth in Montréal. Alongside him, Great Britain can also count on Adam Yates. Particularly when the big favourites are sizing each other up, having several competitive options within a national team could prove tactically valuable.

From a German perspective, all eyes are on Florian Lipowitz. However, following his crash in the Tour de France, the 26-year-old is not yet back to his best. Austria, too, has a rider in Felix Gall who, should the race prove particularly gruelling, could be among this group of outsiders. Italy, for its part, has Giulio Ciccone in its line-up, amongst others. Mads Pedersen rounds off the list as a former world champion. The decisive factor for riders in this group is likely to be just how selectively the twelve laps of Mont Royal are ultimately ridden, and whether they can capitalise on the moment when the big favourites start to keep an eye on one another.

As such, ahead of Sunday’s World Championships, there are many indications that this will be a race that is difficult to control. Evenepoel, Seixas and Del Toro perhaps have the strongest claims, but right behind them lies a whole host of riders who could capitalise on different race scenarios. The sooner the race opens up, the greater the chance that, alongside the three top favourites, other riders will join the battle for the rainbow jersey.