Saturday 26 September 2026: World Championships Road Race Women – Brossard – Montréal (180.4 km)

On Saturday 26 September, Montréal hosts the elite women's road race, over 180.4 kilometres with 2,570 metres of climbing. The World Championships thus return to the Canadian city for the first time since 1974, when Eddy Merckx took the world title there. The course consists of a long run-in from Brossard, followed by eight laps of the closed circuit around Mont Royal, with sixteen climbs in total.

Route

The start is in Quartier Dix30 in Brossard, on the south bank of the Saint Lawrence River. The route takes the peloton via Carignan, Chambly and Richelieu back towards Montréal, over a run-in of more than seventy kilometres that is predominantly flat and offers little opportunity for an early breakaway to survive. After crossing onto the island, the finale begins on the city circuit around Mont Royal, the park that gave the city its name.

From that point, eight laps of 13.4 kilometres follow around Mont Royal, accounting for most of the elevation gain. Each lap includes the Voie Camillien-Houde (2.3 km at 6.2%, with a peak above 9%), followed by the shorter but considerably steeper Côte de la Polytechnique, with sections above 11%. After the descent, a long, gently rising finish awaits on Avenue du Parc, at Parc Jeanne-Mance, the same finish that serves as the backdrop for all thirteen World Championships events throughout the week. The final ascent of Camillien-Houde comes at just over 13 kilometres from the line, after which the riders must tackle the Polytechnique once more for the closing phase.

Recent editions

Kopecky won the two previous editions in which she started, but was absent last year in Kigali.

Local

Defending champion Magdeleine Vallières grew up in Sherbrooke, in the Canadian province of Québec, about two hours' drive from Montréal. Last year in Kigali she surprised with a solo attack on the final climb, taking Canada's first ever road world title in the women's race. On home soil, Canada lines up a seven-rider team around her, hoping to fight for the honours once again on the course the country has been looking forward to since the previous Montréal edition in 1974.

Scenarios

A course for attackers and puncheurs. The combination of the long Camillien-Houde and the short, steep Côte de la Polytechnique favours riders who can climb repeatedly without being pure climbers, and who still have an extra gear left in the eighth and final lap.

If a select group reaches the finish together, the gently rising finish on Avenue du Parc suits fast finishers who survive a difficult race. A group of five to fifteen riders, formed on the final climbs, is the most likely scenario for the podium.

Early attackers will get little room on a circuit that ends every lap with two climbs, allowing the peloton of favourites to keep control until the final lap. Only in the last two laps does the pace become high enough for the peloton to definitively split apart.

Weather forecast

On Saturday in Montréal: variable cloud with a maximum of 21.9°C and a minimum of 11.7°C. It will stay dry. In the final laps there is a light wind from the north-northeast, with gusts up to 19.9 km/h.

TV guide

• NPO 1 — 15:00
• NOS online — 15:00
• Eurosport 1 — 15:00
• HBO Max — 14:45
• VRT Canvas — 17:55

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