The grand finale of the 2026 UCI Road World Championships will be the Men Elite Road Race, one of the most anticipated showdowns of the cycling season, and possibly even more so this year because there will be a new champion for the first time since 2023.
Slovenian superstar Tadej Pogačar won the last two editions of the race, but he’s home recovering from a recent surgery and won’t be in Montreal to defend the rainbow jersey.
Instead, a new face will emerge from the field of almost 200 riders and climb to the top step of the podium Sept. 27, and subscribers in the United States can watch every minute of the action live on FloBikes and the FloSports app.
- Subscribe To FloBikes To Watch The 2026 UCI Road World Championships
- Tadej Pogacar To Miss World Championships After Crash At Vuelta a España 2026
- USA Cycling Names Team USA Roster For 2026 UCI Road World Championships
- 5 Team USA Riders To Watch At The 2026 UCI Road World Championships
There’s no doubt Pogačar would’ve been the easy favorite to win again, but the dream of a three-peat ended when he crashed out of the recent Vuelta a España and chose to end his season prematurely to focus on his recovery.
The five-time Tour de France winner, including 2024, 2025 and 2026, wrecked during Stage 8 of the 21-stage Vuelta, which was held Aug. 22 through Sept. 13. He was leading the race by nearly four minutes, but he left in an ambulance with a fractured collarbone that ultimately required season-ending surgery.
The men who did make the trip to Canada for the 2026 UCI Road Worlds will start their 273.4-kilometer (with 3,803 meters of climbing) journey Sept. 27 at 9 a.m. Eastern, and the ride from Brossard-Montérégie into the heart of Montreal will include 12 laps of the famed Mont Royal Circuit.
The men’s race, featuring professional riders, was held for the first time in 1927, with athletes from Belgium winning 27 times on the way to 53 total medals over the years. Italy has claimed the most medals overall with 56 and is second on the all-time wins list with 19.
Pogačar is responsible for both victories and three of the four medals Slovenia has won in the road race. He took the bronze medal in 2023, before winning in 2024 and 2025. Andrej Hauptman broke through for Slovenia with a bronze medal in 2001.
With Pogačar watching from home this year, there no doubt will be a different kind of excitement around the road race and seeing who will be the final champion of the 92nd edition of the UCI Road World Championships.
The field for 2026 does include three past champions – Mads Pedersen (2019), Remco Evenepoel (2022) and Mathieu van der Poel (2023) – while six riders overall have claimed titles in the time trial or other disciplines/World Championships.
On Sept. 26, the Elite women will have the spotlight for their own road race, which will follow a similar course, but only complete eight laps of the Mont Royal Circuit during the 180.4-kilometer trek.
The eight days of competition at the 2026 UCI Road Worlds began Sunday with the Elite individual time trials and will run through Sept. 27 with time trials and road races for women and men in Elite, U23 and Junior categories, along with the Team Time Trial Mixed Relay on Tuesday.
Here’s a look at some of the favorites for the men’s road race and a few of their top accomplishments:
Remco Evenepoel, Belgium
- Won the Men Elite ITT on Sunday to become the first rider in history to win four consecutive times
- Won the 2026 Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec on Sept. 11 and finished fifth at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal on Sept. 13
- Finished second behind Tadej Pogačar in the General Classification at the Tour de France 2026
- Won the 2026 Amstel Gold Race in April
- Men Elite Road Race champion at UCI Road Worlds in 2022 and runner-up in 2025
Primoz Roglic, Slovenia
- Finished second behind Enric Mas in the General Classification at the Vuelta a España 2026
- Won the Elite individual time trial and finished fourth in the road race at the 2026 Slovenian national championships
- Four-time champion at the Vuelta a España (2019, 2020, 2021, 2024)
Isaac del Toro, Mexico
- Was the champion at the one-day 2026 Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal on Sept. 13
- Has won the Youth Classification at five events in 2026, including the Tour de France
- Won the Youth, Points and GC titles at the 2026 Lidl Deutschland Tour in August
Paul Seixas, France
- Runner-up at the 2026 Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal on Sept. 13
- Swept the four jerseys at the six-stage 2026 Itzulia Basque Country in April
- Was second behind Del Toro in the Youth Classification at the Tour de France 2026
Tom Pidcock, Great Britain
- Coming off a victory at the one-day GP Industria & Artigianato in Italy on Sept. 6
- Won the Men Elite - Cross-country Olympic title at the 2026 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships at the end of August. He also won the title in 2023
- Is a two-time cross-country champion at the Olympics (2020, 2024) and a cyclo-cross world champion (2022)
Other Riders To Watch In The Elite Men’s Road Race
- Jai Hindley, Australia
- Ben O’Connor, Australia
- Felix Gall, Austria
- Wout van Aert, Belgium
- Derek Gee, Canada
- Hugo Houle, Canada
- Santiago Buitrago, Colombia
- Mathias Vacek, Czechia
- Mads Pedersen, Denmark
- Mattias Skjelmose, Denmark
- Richard Carapaz, Ecuador
- Biniam Girmay, Eritrea
- Oscar Onley, Great Britain
- Adam Yates, Great Britain
- Florian Lipowitz, Germany
- Ben Healy, Ireland
- Christian Scaroni, Italy
- Mathieu van der Poel, Netherlands
- Tobias Halland Johannessen, Norway
- Andreas Leknessund, Norway
- Joao Almeida, Portugal
- Juan Ayuso, Spain
- Enric Mas, Spain
- Stefan Kung, Switzerland
- Brandon McNulty, United States
- Quinn Simmons, United States
- Kevin Vermaerke, United States
Now that the 2026 Road World Championships is underway, the list of expected participants includes more than 1,360 athletes, hailing from 100 nations.
The Men Elite Road Race is set to have 194 entries representing 62 countries. To see the complete list of participants, click here.
On the women’s side, which we covered separately here, there will be 177 entries from 57 nations.
In the World Championships-opening Women Elite Individual Time Trial on Sunday, defending champion Marlen Reusser Switzerland gave herself the ultimate 35th birthday present by winning again.
How To Watch The 2026 UCI Road World Championships
For viewers in the United States, the 2026 UCI Road World Championships will be streaming on FloBikes and the FloSports app.
Highlights, race replays and breaking news will be available on both platforms.
Stage highlights, replays and more breaking news, including recaps and rider interviews, will be on both platforms.
About Montreal And Its History In Cycling
Montreal and the surrounding areas certainly are familiar with top-tier bike racing and sporting events, including the recent one-day Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal on Sept. 13.
But the history goes back even further.
In the 1970s, Montreal was a hotspot for elite athletic competition, including the 1974 UCI Road World Championships, which marked the first time the event had been held outside of Europe.
The world’s best road cyclists returned to Canada (Hamilton, Ontario) in 2003 for the Road World Championships, and this year’s visit to Montreal will include celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the Montreal Summer Olympics in 1976.
2026 UCI Road World Championships Schedule
Date, event, (start – finish), start time
*All Times Eastern
- Sept. 20 – Women’s Elite Individual Time Trial (Avenue du Parc – Parc Jeanne Mance), 9 a.m.
- Sept. 20 – Men’s Elite Individual Time Trial (Avenue du Parc – Parc Jeanne Mance), 12:45 p.m.
- Sept. 21 – Women’s U23 Individual Time (Avenue du Parc – Parc Jeanne Mance), 9 a.m.
- Sept. 21 – Men’s U23 Individual Time Trial (Avenue du Parc – Parc Jeanne Mance), noon
- Sept. 22 – Team Time Trial Mixed Relay (Avenue du Parc – Parc Jeanne Mance), 8:30 a.m.
- Sept. 22 – Men’s Junior Individual Time Trial (Avenue du Parc – Parc Jeanne Mance), 12:15 p.m.
- Sept. 22 – Women’s Junior Individual Time Trial (Avenue du Parc – Parc Jeanne Mance), 3:15 p.m.
- Sept. 24 – Women’s U23 Road Race (Parc Jeanne Mance), 9 a.m.
- Sept. 24 – Men’s Junior Road Race (Parc Jeanne Mance), 1:30 p.m.
- Sept. 25 – Men’s U23 Road Race (Parc Jeanne Mance), 9 a.m.
- Sept. 25 – Women’s Junior Road Race (Parc Jeanne Mance), 2:15 p.m.
- Sept. 26 – Women’s Elite Road Race (Quartier Dix30 – Parc Jeanne Mance), 9 a.m.
- Sept. 27 – Men’s Elite Road Race (Quartier Dix30 – Parc Jeanne Mance), 9 a.m.
The time in Montreal matches Eastern Daylight Time.
Who Were The Winners At The 2025 UCI Road World Championships?
Elite Events
- Men’s Road Race – Tadej Pogačar, Slovenia
- Men’s Time Trial – Remco Evenepoel, Belgium
- Women’s Road Race – Magdeleine Vallieres Mill, Canada
- Women’s Time Trial – Marlen Reusser, Switzerland
- Mixed Relay – Australia
Under-23 Events
- Men’s U23 Road Race – Lorenzo Finn, Italy
- Men’s U23 Time Trial – Jakob Soderqvist, Sweden
- Women’s U23 Road Race – Celia Gery, France
- Women’s U23 Time Trial – Zoe Backstedt, Great Britain
Junior Events
- Men’s Junior Road Race – Henry Hudson, Great Britain
- Men’s Junior Time Trial – Michiel Mouris, Netherlands
- Women’s Junior Road Race – Paula Ostiz, Spain
- Women’s Junior Time Trial – Megan Arens, Netherlands
About The UCI Road World Championships
The UCI Road World Championships boasts more than a century of history and tradition, though it took a gradual evolution to become the spectacle it is today.
The amateur-only debut of the event came in 1921, followed by the inclusion of professional in 1927. The addition of a women’s category came in 1958, and youth categories were added to the menu in 1975.
The weeklong UCI Road World Championships also now includes a team time trial mixed relay (2019) and a U23 women’s title (2022), which was earned in a standalone women’s event for the first time in 2025.
In 2026, the schedule includes 13 separate events over the eight days of competition.
The winners are considered the world champions and get to wear the rainbow jersey during all competitions of the same discipline during the following season.
In 2025, the UCI Road World Championships was held Kigali, Rwanda, in Southeast Africa, marking the first time in race history the action took place on the continent of Africa. All of the news, notes and results from last year can be found here.
For those who are ready to see what happens in Montreal in 2026, the complete schedule is listed below.
Paul Seixas Faces His Biggest Test Yet In The 2026 UCI Road World Championships
Paul Seixas leads Team France into the 2026 UCI Road World Championships Elite men’s road race in Montreal with a real chance to fight for the rainbow jersey.
After debuting last year in Kigali, the young French star arrives with far more weight on his shoulders.
In this preview, we break down France’s team, the Montreal course and why Seixas has become one of the biggest names to watch. His fourth overall at the Tour de France showed he can handle pressure, distance and the world’s best riders.
Catch All The Best Races, Highlights, Insight, News And More On FloBikes
FloBikes is the streaming home to some of the best cycling from across the globe. Check out the broadcast schedule to watch more of your favorites in action.
FloBikes Archived Footage
Video footage from each event will be archived and stored in a video library for FloBikes subscribers to watch for the duration of their subscriptions.