Sunday 13 September 2026: Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal – Avenue du Parc – Avenue du Parc (214.4 km)

With 214.4 kilometres and 4,304 metres of climbing, the 15th edition of the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal is one of the toughest one-day races of the autumn. The riders cover sixteen laps of a new 13.4-kilometre circuit around Mont Royal, each lap worth 269 metres of climbing. This year the route has been adjusted to match exactly the course of the World Championships, which will be held in the same city two weeks later. The regular climbs of Camillien-Houde, Polytechnique and Pagnuelo remain, but are now incorporated into a wider urban loop around the university campus.

The route takes the peloton straight up the hill from the start on Avenue du Parc. After 500 metres begins the Voie Camillien-Houde, 1.8 kilometres long at an average of 8 percent, winding its way through Parc du Mont-Royal. After the descent and a few sharp corners, the Chemin de Polytechnique follows at km 6, 780 metres at an average of 6 percent, including a steep section of 200 metres at 11 percent. Together these two climbs account for the bulk of the climbing per lap.

After a long straight stretch along Boulevard Édouard-Montpetit and a few bends, the peloton climbs once more at km 9, via Avenue Pagnuelo: 534 metres at 7.5 percent. From the top there is a flat section, followed by a descent of just over 2.5 kilometres to the finish on Avenue du Parc, where the final 600 metres rise gently at an average of 4 percent. This final climb is less steep than the earlier climbs on the lap, allowing a leading group to hold on in the final kilometres without facing a real wall.

For years the race has been dominated by riders who have a good feel for the circuit around Mont Royal. Tadej Pogačar won in 2022 and 2024, while Brandon McNulty took the title last year after a UAE one-two with Pogačar in second place. Pogačar is absent this year after suffering a broken shoulder and a fractured cervical vertebra in a crash at the Vuelta a España, forcing him to end his season early. Other names on the roll of honour in recent years include Adam Yates, Greg Van Avermaet and Michael Matthews.

Montréal follows on from the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec a few days earlier, but the profile is clearly different. Québec is built around one short, sharp final climb of 600 metres at 9 percent and remains more limited in scale with 2,780 metres of climbing over 206 kilometres. Montréal stacks three longer climbs on every lap for a total of 4,304 metres of climbing over 214.4 kilometres, making the race more suited to riders who can repeatedly push through longer gradients than to pure explosive punchers. Where in Québec the focus is mainly on who survives the last hard minute, in Montréal the accumulation of climbing work over the full five hours of racing counts for much more. With the World Championships taking place on this exact circuit two weeks later, the race serves as a direct dress rehearsal, among others for Remco Evenepoel, Tom Pidock, Isaac del Toro and Paul Seixas. Remarkable participant is Michael Woods, who retired already but is back for the races in which he previously performed well.

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