When Magdeleine Vallières won cycling’s world title in Rwanda last year, she became the first Canadian to wear the sport’s iconic rainbow jersey: the mark of the reigning world champion. This month, she will defend her title in Montreal in the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) Road World Championships for the first time in over 50 years—just one week after the city’s annual Grands Prix Cycliste de Québec de Montréal.
The 2026 UCI Road World Championships, running from Sept. 20 to Sept. 27, has been named the largest sporting event in Montreal since the 1976 Olympic Games. During the event, over 1,000 athletes from more than 80 countries will compete in 13 events across Montreal and the South Shore. 50 years after the Olympic Games, the city of Montreal expects nearly half a million people to attend the championships, with free admission for all spectators. Montreal last hosted the event in 1974, when it became the first city to hold the World Championships outside of Europe.
The Grand Prix Cycliste is considered one of the hardest one-day races in North America, with 16 laps and 4,304 metres of climbing up and down Mount Royal. The race serves as a dress rehearsal for the World Championships—which will be held on many of the same streets just a week later—when many of the same riders will trade their team jerseys for national colours.
The four events expected to draw the biggest crowds are the shorter men’s and women’s Individual Time Trials, both 39.9 kilometres on Sept. 20, and the much longer Road Race with 273.2 kilometres of men’s and 180.4 kilometres of women’s racing on Sept. 27. The winners of these races will each earn the right to the rainbow jersey, which they will wear in competitions until the next year’s title is decided.
Current rainbow jersey holder Magdeleine Vallières, who is from Sherbrooke, returns home no longer an underdog, but as the defending champion: racing on the same streets she trained on growing up.
Her main challenger, Demi Vollering, a member of the strong Dutch team and last year’s Tour de France Femmes victor, seeks a first World Championships win. The climbing-heavy nature of this year’s course has led to its description as Vollering’s “race to lose”. Vollering has had a mixed relationship with cycling since the start of her career; the 29-year-old did not grow up in a cycling academy. She was previously a speed skater and trained as a florist, only taking up cycling in her late teens.
Defending men’s Road Race champion and current rainbow jersey holder Tadej Pogačar will not be competing in Montreal due to a crash in 2026 La Vuelta a España that caused him to suffer a neck and collarbone fracture, as well as a concussion. The five-time Tour de France winner underwent successful surgery on his left collarbone on Aug. 31.
With the absence of Pogačar, reigning Individual Time Trial champion and Road Race runner-up Belgian cyclist Remco Evenepoel is now considered the man to beat this year. Thirty-nine-year-old Canadian Michael Woods, who retired from cycling in 2025, will return for one final race on his home soil, supporting Canadian team leader Derek Gee.
Due to these events, major driving disruptions will be in effect throughout the month, with 36 kilometres of streets affected across seven Montreal boroughs. Av. du Parc between Mont-Royal and av. des Pins will be closed from Sept. 4 until Oct. 4. Other streets included in the races are expected to be closed during the events and reopened later in the day. Students commuting from the Mile End and the Plateau who rely on the 80 Du Parc bus should consult the Société de transport de Montréal’s trip planner for information on live diversions and cancellation updates.
When the road race takes place on av. du Parc, the rider currently defending the rainbow jersey will be on the same streets she once trained on: the same ones that helped cycling grow in North America, and the same ones McGill students use to get to class every day.