This article was first published in Rouleur Issue 139
Cycling is alive in North America. On this sunny Sunday afternoon in Montréal, the largest city in Canada’s Québec province, you can feel it. The noise builds in a crescendo from crowds lining every corner of the roads that the WorldTour peloton speeds down. Men and women are dressed in jerseys of their favourite riders, they hold flags, they write signs. Children – and grown adults – squeal with glee at the very sight of their heroes flashing by. Once in a while, as the laps tick down, a used water bottle is thrown in the direction of an excited gaggle of fans and there’s a scramble and a whoop from the lucky person who grabs it. The commentator’s voice booms through the speaker. Beer is drunk and the scent of sizzling pizza wafts up into the blue sky. Energy fizzes between bikes and people.
In the race, UAE Team Emirates-XRG are lined up in formation at the front of a peloton that, under the furious speed they are setting, has been whittled down to just 30 riders. It’s a battle of attrition on a hilly, tough, city-centre circuit that is perfectly suited to Tadej Pogačar, the best cyclist in the world right now. Free of charge, those watching have front row seats to see every bead of sweat and every grimace from cyclists who are normally only alive behind television screens. Some may argue that this is a model for how all bike races should be: a spectacle in front of the people, designed solely for the people.
In the end, the Slovenian superstar does what he is expected to do and attacks with two laps remaining. It is the final blow for those who were still hanging on to his rear wheel and the only man who can eventually follow Pogačar is his team-mate, Brandon McNulty. When the chequered flag is in sight and the gruelling 209 kilometres reach their ultimate conclusion, the world champion decides to give the victory to the American, who has loyally supported him to Tour de France victories. It’s a beautiful ending to a race that was theatre, directed by the sport’s greatest showman, set in Canada’s La Belle Ville.
Montréal is no stranger to spectacles like the one I witnessed at the 2025 edition of GP Montréal. For 15 years, GP Québec and Montréal have formed crucial parts of the men’s WorldTour calendar, their September dates making them the ideal preparation for the World Championships and ensuring they attract an all-star field each year.
The city’s history in the cycling world goes back to before this duo of one-day races were added to the calendar, too. In 1974, the UCI World Road Championships in Montréal represented a new dawn for cycling as the first World Championships outside of Europe, serving as a chance for the sport to begin to increase its global reach to new audiences and new demographics, with Belgian’s all-time great Eddy Merckx and Geneviève Gambillon of France claiming the rainbow bands on offer that year.
So much has changed in the sport over the last 50 years, but similarities remain.
The people of Montréal still come out to welcome bike racing and the exhausting laps still destroy the legs of the best bike racers on the planet.
“With the exception of the 700-metre-long final stretch before the finish, we were unable to discover a strip of only 200 metres flat anywhere along the entire route,” Jan Cornand, journalist at Het Volk, wrote in a commentary ahead of the 1974 race – a quote that can still be applied to the GP Montréal course today.
There is an appreciation for the type of engaging racing that the rolling roads of Québec and Montréal encourage from both fans and riders alike. After finishing third at GP Québec this year, Alberto Bettiol of XDS-Astana said: “These Canadian races are nice, modern cycling. They first consider the spectators enjoying cycling. People can see us more than in any other races. In Italy we are losing people who love this sport and I think all the world should look at these races as an example. I’m happy to race here whether I am good or not. It’s a show for the people: when it is a show for the people, for us it means suffering.”
In 2026, the world will – as Bettiol demands – be watching Montréal with unrivalled interest when it hosts the Road World Championships for the second time, half a century after Merckx and Gambillon took rainbows in the Canadian city. It will be Montréal’s largest sporting event since the 1976 Olympic Games, with 13 events bringing together nearly one thousand cyclists across junior, under-23 and elite categories, men and women alike.
Starting in Brossard, Montérégie, the road races will cross the Samuel De Champlain Bridge to reach the final Mount Royal circuit. Like they do in GP Montréal each season, the peloton will face several major challenges, including the Camillien-Houde climb and the Polytechnique climb with sections over 11 per cent, before the uphill false flat on Parc Avenue – the common finish line for all 13 events.
The elite men’s event will consist of over 3720 metres of elevation gain, making the race a prime opportunity for the WorldTour’s mountain goats. Above all, each event will showcase the Québec province’s beauty: its rivers, mountains, orchards, and urban landscapes with the aim of reflecting both the city’s international outlook and its proud local roots.
“These routes embody accessibility, inclusivity, and the richness of our region. The UCI Road World Championships are already shaping up to be a milestone in the history of world cycling, creating unforgettable memories and leaving a lasting legacy for Montréal, Québec, and Canada,” said Joseph Limare, the general manager of the race’s local organising committee, when the routes were unveiled.
There is perhaps no better time for current Canadian cycling talent to be spotlighted globally in a landmark event than next year. At the recent World Championships in Rwanda, the country secured its biggest victory on the world stage when Magdeleine Vallieres took a surprise win from the breakaway in the elite women’s event, meaning she will wear rainbows for the next 12 months. Having a Canadian athlete crowned as champion of the world comes at the perfect moment for a country which is in the middle of a bike-racing boom. 2026’s World Championships in Montréal are expected to encourage a boost in cycling participation in the country, both at a competitive and recreational level. Young riders will be able to see their heroes, like Vallieres, compete on their local roads – a tangible source of inspiration for the next generation.
“It’s really shocking. I’m really happy. I still don’t believe it. We have had a lot of success as Canadians, but this is the first elite women’s win, and that is super special,” said Vallieres, grinning after she took victory in Africa. “It’s great to win here and with the Worlds next year in Montréal, it’s perfect.”
The 24-year-old’s breakthrough victory isn’t the first taste of success that the nation has had in professional bike racing, of course. Karol-Ann Canuel and Leah Kirchmann both won world titles in the former trade team time trial, along with Steve Bauer, Alyson Sydor, Linda Jackson and Michael Woods securing medals in the elite road races over the years. More recently, siblings Isabella and Ava Holmgren have taken both the mountain bike and road scene by storm. Both riders have won junior and under-23 world titles, while Isabella took victory overall at the Tour de l’Avenir Femmes earlier this season, one of the most prestigious under-23 women’s events on the calendar. On the men’s side of the sport, current Canadian national champion Derek Gee represents the future of Grand Tour racing for the country, finishing in a promising fourth place at the Giro d’Italia in May.
Woods, a Tour de France stage and three-time Vuelta a España stage winner, who will retire at the end of the 2025 season, can be relieved that he is passing the baton to an extremely capable generation who come after him. Speaking at last year’s GP Montréal, the 38-year-old said: “I hope having the World Championships here continues to help grow cycling’s prevalence. I already feel it in the sense that the sport has grown significantly since I even started racing. A lot of that has to do with the Montréal and Québec races. They’ve really helped grow the sport, particularly in Québec. Then with the Netflix documentary [Tour de France: Unchained] and with Canadians starting to race so well, again, the sport is definitely getting some momentum here. When you put the
World Championships in front of a Canadian crowd, I’m sure and I hope that kids will be inspired.”
There is much more to Montréal than just the smooth, rolling tarmac that makes it a perfect place to host a bike race. In the time I spent in Canada as a keen observer of the Grand Prix in 2025, I discovered the unique blend of French-Canadian and North American culture that flourishes in Montréal, as well as its renowned architecture and vibrant culinary scene.
Mark Twain once called it “The City of a Hundred Steeples” due to the prevalence of saints’ names in its streets and the abundant religious sites, such as the striking Notre-Dame Basilica and St Joseph’s Oratory. These, alongside the stunning Parc du Mont-Royal which offers panoramic views of the city, make Montréal a diverse and engaging place to explore, referred to by many as ‘The Paris of North America’.
Just as the architecture in Montréal has a deep heritage, so do its culinary delights. The famous Canadian dish of poutine originated in the Québec region and sampling it is a rite of passage for any visitors – there are yearly celebrations of poutine, a dish which consists of French fries and cheese curds, topped with lashings of brown gravy. Thanks to my natural exhaustion after watching the likes of Pogačar sprint up climbs all day, I also had to visit Schwartz’s Deli on my trip to Canada. It’s an iconic Jewish deli that is almost unchanged since it opened nearly 100 years ago in 1928, famous for the daily smoked brisket meat which forms the filling for their iconic signature sandwich. Schwartz’s is surrounded by artsy cafés, pubs serving craft beer and eclectic stores. In the evening, the neighbourhood bustles with cabaret shows, cool nightclubs and divebars.
When the 2026 World Championships is hosted in Montréal, the racing itself will be electric – it only takes watching previous editions of GP Québec or Montréal to be sure of that. What you won’t see, smell, hear or feel from the sofa on your television screen, though, is the bustling heart of the Canadian city. That’s something that I only experienced from walking the narrow streets, from popping into record stores, from tasting perfectly brewed flat whites or plates of poutine, and from speaking to the locals who were embracing a sporting event storming through their roads with the type of warmth I haven’t felt in many other places in the world.
Sure, come to Canada next September to watch Pogačar most likely win a third rainbow jersey, or to see if another plucky attacker takes the spoils, like Vallieres did in the women’s race this year. But if you do, be sure to make the most of Montréal while you’re there. There’s no place quite like it.
