Road World Championships 2026: winners and review

Brandon McNulty and Demi Vollering won the elite road races at the 2026 Road World Championships, held in Montréal from September 20 to 27. Remco Evenepoel and Marlen Reusser kept their time trial titles. The 13 titles went to nine countries. Spain won the most gold medals, three, all in the junior races.

Who won the 13 world titles in Montréal?

Each race page has the top ten and the highlights. The 2026 Worlds page lists the podium of every race.

How were the elite road races won?

Both were won by an attack from more than 30 kilometers out. Vollering went on the Voie Camillien-Houde with 38.5 kilometers left, launched by her teammate Puck Pieterse. She was caught just before the last lap by Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney, Elisa Longo Borghini, Reusser and Juliette Berthet, and still won the uphill sprint from Niewiadoma-Phinney. It is her first rainbow jersey and her 15th win of the year, by the UCI’s count. Our recap of the women’s race has the five moves that decided it.

A day later McNulty attacked alone with 33 kilometers to go. He led by 53 seconds at the start of the last lap and by 10 seconds after the last climb, and he finished 13 seconds ahead of Michael Matthews and Mathieu van der Poel, the UCI reported. He is the first American to win the elite men’s road race since Lance Armstrong in 1993, according to Escape Collective.

What happened in the time trials?

Evenepoel won the elite men’s time trial for the fourth year in a row. He was fastest at every checkpoint over the 39.2 kilometers, eased up in the finishing straight and held up four fingers. Filippo Ganna was second at 57 seconds. Paul Seixas took third at 1:13, four days before his 20th birthday.

Reusser kept the women’s title on her 35th birthday. She was fifth at the first checkpoint, 10 seconds behind Zoe Bäckstedt, and beat her by 40 seconds at the finish. Franziska Koch was third. Both stood on this podium for the first time.

Italy won the mixed relay for the first time, under nine seconds ahead of France, with Mattia Cattaneo, Ganna, Matteo Sobrero, Vittoria Guazzini, Longo Borghini and Monica Trinca Colonel.

Which under-23 and junior riders stood out?

Ashlin Barry won the under-23 men’s road race alone on his 19th birthday, after riding the last 30 kilometers by himself. He is the first American winner of that race, the UCI said, and he had been fourth in the under-23 time trial four days earlier.

Benjamín Noval of Spain won the junior men’s time trial and then the road race, where he rode the last 26.8 kilometers alone. Only Evenepoel, in 2018, had won both junior titles at one championships before him, by the UCI’s account.

The host country’s one medal came in the under-23 women’s road race. Isabella Holmgren attacked twice in the final and could not drop Viktória Chladoňová of Slovakia, who beat her in a two-rider sprint. Alejandra Neira won the junior women’s road race from a group of five, the day after Noval’s road race win.

In the under-23 time trials, Felicity Wilson-Haffenden won her third rainbow jersey at 21, and Ryan Gal took the men’s title for the Netherlands 19 years after Lars Boom. Maria Okrucińska is Poland’s first junior women’s time trial champion.

Which countries won the most medals?

Sixteen countries won a medal. France had two silvers and a bronze, Great Britain a silver and a bronze, and Canada one silver. Denmark, Germany, Norway and Sweden each won a bronze. The count is ours, from the UCI’s results.

What changes at the 2027 Worlds?

The 2027 Road World Championships are in Haute-Savoie, France, from August 27 to September 5. The road races are at Sallanches, on a 13.3-kilometer circuit over the Côte de Domancy, 2.5 kilometers at 9.4 percent. The time trials are around Lake Annecy.

The elite road races have more climbing than Montréal’s. The men ride 20 laps on August 29, 265 kilometers with 5,700 meters of climbing, against 3,803 meters this year. The women ride 12 laps on September 5, 158.6 kilometers with 3,420 meters, against 2,570.