Remco Evenepoel has emerged as the clear favourite to reclaim the world road race title he won four years ago after an electrifying performance at the GP Québec.
The Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe man escaped the group of favourites in the closing laps alongside Lidl-Trek’s Giulio Ciccone and Uno-X Mobility’s Anton Charmig, before dispatching his companions on the final climb to the line.
Evenepoel rode with boldness on a route that is usually suited to the puncheurs of the peloton, although a new final for 2026 helped to swing the pendulum back towards the climbers. He will now attempt to claim victory at the GP Montréal on Sunday, before aiming to win the world championships time-trial for the fourth time in succession and take his second road title the week after.
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“I need to stay calm and take it day by day because Sunday is another day,” he said after the race. “Then it’s next Sunday, and the Sunday after. It’s a big two weeks ahead for me.”
The 26-year-old last won the road race rainbow jersey in 2022 in Wollongong, Australia. With Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) concluding his season early following a crash at the Vuelta a España, Evenepoel’s stock has risen considerably.
“This weekend was the goal to do as good as possible twice, and it’s a pretty good start, I must say,” he added during his winner’s press conference.
“I think I still have a bit of work to do. This weekend, I really wanted to use it to find the best sensations. It’s clear I wasn’t on a bad day, otherwise you don’t win here, but personally, I didn’t feel like it was really my best day on the bike. So I think it’s clear there’s still a bit of room for improvement,” he said.
“There are still two weeks before the road race, so I’m really going to use this weekend to take a step forward, then follow it up with the time trial, and then another week to do specific training. But clearly it was good, because otherwise you don’t win.”
While Evenepoel is clearly in the ascendancy, several of his would-be rivals for the road race struggled in Québec.
Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek) will be tending to his wounds after crashing in the final sprint from the chasing group. He appeared to overlap wheels with Paul Seixas (Decathlon-CMA CGM); the young Frenchman unable to make an impact on the race, although the course in Montréal will suit him better.
Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) was another who found the going tough, languishing at the back of the group during the final circuits. The Mexican has spent time training at altitude in Colorado ahead of the Worlds, but faltered in his first Canadian race, finishing more than five minutes down on Evenepoel.
Briton Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5), fresh from his XCO World Championship victory in Val di Sile, looked in better form. Pidcock finished in fourth place having attacked the Ayuso-Seixas group on the final rise to the line.
Although victory at GP Québec will be a confidence boost for the Olympic champion, his dominance over the next two weeks is far from assured. All the top favourites have been away on various training camps which can deaden the legs on return to racing. It could be that the likes of Del Toro, Seixas and others feel the benefit of the work they have put in in a fortnight’s time.
The 2026 UCI road world championships begin in Montréal on the 20th of September with the elite time-trials. The road races for women and men will take place on the 26th and 27th of September respectively.
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