UCI Road World Championships 2026: Montreal Men’s Road Race Course and Start List

The 2026 Course: From Brossard to the Montreal Circuit

The peloton rolls out sharply at 09:00 local time (15:00 CEST) from Brossard, a city in Quebec situated just east of the St. Lawrence River. The opening phase tracks across the flat agricultural roads of the Montérégie region. While the route is largely straightforward, northeastern winds could introduce early nerves into the bunch before riders cross the Samuel De Champlain-brug into Montreal.

Once inside the city, the race hits the technical 13.4-kilometer local circuit. Riders face 12 laps of this circuit, covering roughly 160 kilometers on the city course. The layout mirrors the annual Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal, with a slightly widened U-bracket just before the finish straight. The course accumulates approximately 3,800 vertical meters of climbing, heavily concentrated in the latter half of the race.

Key Climbs and Finish Details

The decisive obstacles are clustered within the Mont Royal park sector. Leaving the finish zone via Avenue du Parc, the peloton hits the Côte de Camillien-Houde immediately: a 1.6-kilometer ascent averaging 7.5 percent, with the final 400 meters spiking to 9.1 percent. After a descent, riders tackle the Chemin de la Polytechnique, an 800-meter climb averaging just under 6 percent that splits across three steep steps and two flat terraces. A third test follows on Avenue Pagnuelo, measuring 500 meters at 7.5 procent.

The finish line on Avenue du Parc features a testing final 550 meters dragging upward at roughly 4 percent. According to official schedules, the race is expected to finish around 15:40 local time (21:40 CEST), under anticipated temperatures near 15 degrees Celsius with a chance of rain.

A Deep Start List and National Squads

With Pogačar absent, the start list carries immense depth across major nations. According to entry lists reported by Touretappe.nl, powerhouse squads arrive with full rosters:

• Belgium: Remco Evenepoel, Wout van Aert, Thibau Nys, Maxim Van Gils, Tiesj Benoot, Alec Segaert, Gianni Vermeersch, and Quinten Hermans.
• Netherlands: Mathieu van der Poel, Bauke Mollema, Tim van Dijke, Daan Hoole, Menno Huising, Mathijs Paasschens, Pascal Eenkhoorn, and Bart Lemmen.
• Denmark: Mads Pedersen, Søren Kragh Andersen, Kasper Asgreen, Michael Valgren, Mikkel Honoré, Mikkel Bjerg, Andreas Kron, and Anthon Charmig.
• Great Britain: Tom Pidcock, Oscar Onley, Adam Yates, Mark Donovan, Finlay Pickering, James Shaw, Callum Thornley, and Fred Wright.
• Italy: Giulio Ciccone, Alberto Bettiol, Giulio Pellizzari, Matteo Trentin, Mattia Cattaneo, Davide Piganzoli, Christian Scaroni, and Lorenzo Finn.

Additional contenders include Spain’s Juan Ayuso and Enric Mas, the United States’ Matteo Jorgenson and Quinn Simmons, Slovenia’s Primož Roglič and Matej Mohorič, and Ireland’s Ben Healy, ensuring a fiercely contested tactical battle for the world title.

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