This Monday morning EuroTrash is all-and-only World Championships (and we’re not talking about your local ride, much as I do love a Wednesday Worlds).
With Reusser’s and Evenepoel’s signature, predicted wins behind us, we move on to cycling’s next generation, the future Marlens and Remcos, who assume the stage Monday and Tuesday, along with the much-maligned (but much loved, by me) Mixed Relay Time Trial.
Throughout the week, though, we’ll be looking to Saturday and Sunday: Can Vollering avenge her disappointing performance in the time trial? Can Remco double up? Can van der Poel rise to the challenge of rise after rise in the road course?
Keep an eye on Pez’ coverage all week!
TOP STORY
- Can Evenepoel be the First to Double Up at Worlds?
WORLDS WEEK PART 2
- Young, Aero and Very Fast
- Where to Watch World Championship Week
RIDER, TEAM AND CYCLING NEWS
- Van der Poel Throws Down the Gauntlet in Advance of Worlds Showdown
- Carapaz Won’t Toe the Line in Montréal
VIDEO
- Richard and PEZ are Headed to Worlds!
INFOGRAPHIC
- Key Figures for Montréal Worlds
Can Evenepoel be the First to Double Up at Worlds?
Because the world time trial championship was first held in 1994, we’ve had 32 opportunities for a TT/road double.
But it’s never happened.
The challenge is inherent in the respective races’ typical profiles: While in recent years the road race has offered more and more elevation, the circuit style still suits the puncheurs; Pogačar can punch with the best of them, but prior to his first win in 2024, we see names like van der Poel, Alaphilippe, Sagan, Boonen — and going back to 2002, even Mario Cipollini.
The time trial, meanwhile, has remained long and relatively flat; no Tour-style “mountain time trials” here. The winners list is almost entirely TT specialists, names like Rogers, Dennis, Cancellara, and Ganna. GC riders have won the time trial relatively recently, including Wiggins in 2014 and Dumoulin in 2017, but neither was a classics-style rider, likely to win road Worlds. And while Pogačar has been able to win virtually every type of race, he’s not yet found a way to edge Remco Evenepoel in a long time trial, so hasn’t won the World Time Trial Championship.
Ironically, in 2022 Remco won road Worlds, but not the time trial; he finished third, behind Tobias Foss and Stefan Kūng.
After his trouncing victory in the time trial Sunday, then, Evenepoel has a chance to be the first to double up at Worlds — but the odds are still long. On one hand, he did ride in dominant fashion, not only winning by nearly a minute, but also doing so seemingly easily, appearing to plan his victory celebration well in advance. What’s more, he won last Friday’s Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec on a course that bears some similarity to the one he’ll face next Sunday.
On the other hand, Remco is beatable only by Pogačar on a long, steady drag, even an uphill one, but on courses with surge after surge, ascent after ascent, we’ve seen Seixas and del Toro (both of whom also rode well in the time trial) ride exceptionally well. Meanwhile — see below — Mathieu van der Poel will muster his own challenge.
A double seems doubtful, and if it happens, it will come with a no-Pogi asterisk. Judging by that victory celebration, though, if it happens, Remco will be very pleased with himself.
Don’t miss Pez’ Worlds coverage!
Richard is on the ground in Montréal, and his roadside posts aren’t to be missed!
- Here’s his report on Marlen Reusser’s smashing TT win…
- …and his up-close-and-personal view of Remco Evenepoel’s record-tying fourth time trial victory.
- My personal favorite World Championship road race (since LeMond’s epic win in 1989, of course)? Sagan’s first of three straight, in 2015. Check out Pez’ record of this remarkable week here.
Worlds Week Part 2: Young, Aero and Very Fast
Worlds week starts and ends with the WorldTour riders, the ones who grace these (web)pages week after week: the elite time trials the first Sunday, and the road races on Saturday and Sunday. The 2026 version kicked off predictably, as Marlen Reusser and Remco Evenepoel dominated their respective races of truth.
From here, the championships turn the start ramp over to the next generation (with one exception). The under-23 time trials follow on Monday, and the mixed relay and both junior time trials fill Tuesday, so fans get plenty of vigorous racing before the road-race circus reaches Mount Royal.
The World Cycling Championships is also one of the most cosmopolitan events in the sport, with roughly 1,000 riders from all over the world, and while the elites and the road races command most of the attention, the midweek TTs deserve yours: Unlike the road races, where we sadly see riders from the non-cycling Meccas get popped, dropped, gapped and lapped, in the time trials, they at least get to complete the race, on what’s essentially the same course covered by Evenepoel, Reusser, Seixas, del Toro, Vollering, and the rest.
Yes, against the clock, everyone gets to finish. Guinea-Bissau’s Gil Gomes was the first down the ramp in the elite men’s race, and the junior men’s start list includes riders from Belize and the Cayman Islands. In Kigali last year, the 85th and last finisher in the junior men’s time trial, from Niger, came home almost 19 minutes behind winner Michiel Mouris. But he finished, which is more than the road race’s broom wagon would have allowed.
The Course, in Short
Every time trial starts on Avenue du Parc and finishes at Parc Jeanne-Mance, on a mostly flat, technical urban circuit that’s trimmed shorter for the younger categories. Riders start with a short downhill and finish on a roughly 400 m ramp at about 6%, so there’s a sting in the tail. Distance and climbing differ by race, as below, but as we saw in the elite races, there’s a whole lot of slowing, cornering, and accelerating (which shifts the race ever so slightly towards a less pure time trialist).
Women’s U23 Time Trial
- When: Monday, Sept. 21, 9:00 a.m. EDT (3:00 p.m. CEST)
- Distance: 20.3 km with 145 m of climbing
Nobody is defending. Zoe Bäckstedt, the first standalone U23 champion, has stepped up to the elite race. Felicity Wilson-Haffenden (AUS) is the rider to beat. She was fourth in Kigali, only ten seconds off the podium, and won the Australian elite title in January while still eligible for U23, edging Brodie Chapman. Viktória Chladoňová (SVK) took silver behind Bäckstedt last year. Megan Arens (NED) won the 2025 junior world title and has since turned pro. Home fans, meanwhile, will look to Canada’s Sidney Swierenga.
Men’s U23 Time Trial
- When: Monday, Sept. 21, 12:00 p.m. EDT (6:00 p.m. CEST)
- Distance: 31.3 km with 197 m of climbing
Defending champion Jakob Söderqvist has moved up and started in the elite race on Sunday (and likely would have ended on the podium, had he not sadly crashed). Matisse Van Kerckhove (BEL) won the Belgian U23 title this year, took bronze in the 2024 junior world time trial, and has been tearing it up this year. Héctor Álvarez (ESP) was ninth in this event in Kigali and is named among the top starters on the start list. Wil Holmes (AUS) won the Australian U23 time trial in January and joins Jayco AlUla’s WorldTour squad next year. Also watch 2025 junior champion Michiel Mouris (NED), now among the leading U23 contenders.
Mixed Relay Time Trial
- When: Tuesday, Sept. 22, 8:30 a.m. EDT (2:30 p.m. CEST)
- Distance: 40.6 km with 290 m of climbing, about 20 km per half
- Format: three men ride a team time trial first, then three women take over. The clock stops when the second woman crosses the line, so one rider from each trio can be dropped.
This is the one event of the week where a national federation has to decide, in public, how much it loves its road-race captain. Every rider on the winning team becomes a world champion, so the rainbow jerseys tend to go to whichever country is willing to throw its best riders at it and worry later about what’s left in their legs when the elite road races roll out Saturday and Sunday. (And keep in mind: That’s a World Champion jersey that can only be worn in similar events — of which there are…none. Yet another reason why the big names may opt out.)
Australia has won the last two, by 0.85 seconds in 2024 and by five seconds in Kigali, with road man Michael Matthews on the ramp both times: classic Australia, willing to put national pride ahead of individual aspirations. But this year’s rivals are stacked with people you’d expect to be saving themselves. Italy has named Filippo Ganna and Elisa Longo Borghini to what looks like the strongest six on paper, and France has named a balanced six of its own. Switzerland’s candidate pool includes Reusser, Mauro Schmid and Noemi Rüegg; Longo Borghini, Schmid and Rüegg all show up on road race favorite lists. The theory that this costs you in the road race is, admittedly, unproven: Ben O’Connor rode Australia’s winning relay in 2024 and still took road race silver in Zürich.
I, for one, will be watching this one, though wish more nations would throw more into it!
Men’s Junior Time Trial
- When: Tuesday, Sept. 22, 12:15 p.m. EDT (6:15 p.m. CEST)
- Distance: 20.3 km with 145 m of climbing
Michiel Mouris has aged out of the category. Seff Van Kerckhove (BEL) took bronze last year, 8.6 seconds off gold, and won the Belgian junior title this year. His older brother Matisse rides the U23 race the day before. Malthe Risbjerg (DEN) was in the top three of ProCyclingStats’ 12-month junior ranking when it was last updated in May. Kashus Adamski (USA) is the US junior time trial champion.
Women’s Junior Time Trial
- When: Tuesday, Sept. 22, 3:15 p.m. EDT (9:15 p.m. CEST)
- Distance: 10.7 km with 91 m of climbing, the shortest test of the week
Defending champion Arens has moved up. Maria Okrucińska (POL) is the top-ranked junior woman on ProCyclingStats this season, defended her Polish junior time trial title in June, and was seventh at Worlds last year. Liliana Edwards (USA) was ninth in Kigali and is this year’s US junior time trial champion. Alejandra Neira (ESP) is on Escape Collective’s watch list.
Where to Watch World Championship Week
Wondering how to follow Worlds? In addition to reading Richard’s cheeky commentary on Pez, you find the streaming service for your region here:
- Africa: SuperSport;
- North America: TVA /CBC / TOU.TV (Canada) and FloSport (United States);
- South America: DirectTV (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela) and ESPN (Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras);
- Asia: Astro (Malaysia) and JSports (Japan);
- Europe: ZDF (Germany), VRT (Flemish Belgium), RTBF (French-speaking Belgium), TV2 (Denmark), TVE (Spain), France TV (France), MTV (Hungary), RAI (Italy), TV2 (Norway), NOS (Netherlands), RTP (Portugal), BBC (United Kingdom), STVR (Slovakia), RTV (Slovenia), SRG (Switzerland) and Czech TV (Czechia); in most European countries, coverage is (also) available on Eurosport (TNT Sport for Ireland and the United Kingdom), as well as on the online platforms of HBO Max and Discovery+ group;
- Oceania: Stan (Australia) and Sky (New Zealand).
As with all UCI World Championships, the 2026 UCI Road World Championships will also be available to watch live on the UCI YouTube channel, subject to geo-blocking.
In addition, the event will be covered on the following UCI social media channels:
- Facebook: Union Cycliste Internationale
- Instagram: @uci_cycling
- LinkedIn: Union Cycliste Internationale
- RED (Xiaohongshu): UCI国际自行车联盟
- Strava: UCI Cycling Club
- TikTok: @uci_cycling
- WeChat: UCI国际自行车联盟
- Weibo: UCI国际自行车联盟
- X: @UCI_cycling.
RIDER, TEAM AND CYCLING NEWS
Van der Poel Throws Down the Gauntlet in Advance of Worlds Showdown
My plan was to write an article writing off Mathieu van der Poel. The World Championships road course is too tough for him, and his runup performances have been uneven: a powerful win in the first stage of the Tour de Luxembourg, and of course his marvel of a victory over Pogačar on the Champs Elysées, but lackluster road results since then, and also at the World Mountain Bike Championships, where he finished far behind winner Tom Pidcock — who will also put his wheel on the line in Montréal next Sunday.
But then he went and did this.
The final stage of the Tour de Luxembourg was 177 kilometers long, and Van der Poel spent about 174 of them alone. This was no late flyer or bridge-and-drop. He jumped on the first uncategorized rise, roughly three kilometers in, and nobody saw him again until the finish line, more than four hours later.
The circumstances made it stranger. Davide Piganzoli was defending the overall lead for Visma-Lease a Bike, and Van der Poel had lost over seven minutes on stage 3 and clearly cruised Saturday’s time trial. He sat nearly ten minutes down, no threat to anyone. It didn’t matter. Six riders gave chase early, his lead swelled past six minutes, and then it bled away as the chase organized, with EF’s Mikkel Honoré doing the heavy lifting. With 12 kilometers to go Honoré was still almost two minutes back. Van der Poel won by 1:04, picked up the mountains jersey on the way, and took his second stage of the week and eighth win of the season.
He insists it wasn’t the plan. The legs had been flat in the days before, he said, blaming too much training after his time in Spain, and he’d admitted earlier in the week that after a big endurance block he needed hard intensity. Well, he found it. Four-plus hours off the front, alone, is the most epic training day anyone has cooked up a week before Worlds, and it came with a trophy.
The gauntlet is down. On paper, Montréal’s hilly circuit still belongs to the climbers: Evenepoel, del Toro and Seixas, and Van der Poel himself said before the start that the race is probably too difficult for him. I still think that’s true of him, and of Pedersen and van Aert as well.
But 24 hours ago, we thought we knew the shape of this race. Now we have reason to believe Road Worlds will be even more wide open than we suspected.
Carapaz Won’t Toe the Line in Montréal
Uber-climber Richard Carapaz won’t vie for the World Champion jersey in Montréal. While on no one’s short list for the road title, the Ecuadorian rider surely would have made the race interesting with his wild, attacking riding style.
In an extensive statement, the 2021 Olympic champion cited ‘health complications’ as the reason for his withdrawal.
“After a detailed evaluation, following strict medical recommendations, and a joint decision with my team, it has been determined that the most responsible choice is to prioritize my health. I must focus on a speedy recovery to avoid greater risks to my career,” says Carapaz.
Carapaz won the Tour de France Polka-Dot Jersey for the second time in three years, and rode to a fourth place finish in the recently completed Vuelta a España.
“I hope to be able to resume training as soon as possible. In the meantime, I am being treated well,” concluded Carapaz.
VIDEO: THE PEZ PRE-WORLDS SHOW
Check out Richard’s preview of the week — shot right after his ride, clad in Pez gear. (At Pez, we don’t just write about riding; we actually ride too!)
INFOGRAPHIC: KEY FIGURES FOR 2026 WORLDS
Many thanks to the UCI for sharing this infographic: all the key numbers for Worlds week. (And for managing to slot in a photo of Remco instead of Pogačar!)
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The post EUROTRASH: Can Remco Double Up at Worlds? appeared first on PezCycling News.
