Date
27·09·26
The
Loudest
Mountain
Two weeks after walking Mont Royal for the Grand Prix, Grupetto went back with a camera for the race the mountain had been waiting for: the men's world championship road race. The circuit has three climbs, and each had its own crowd. Camillien-Houde was packed, with a jumbotron at the top. The University of Montréal climb was a party. On the neighbourhood climb there were no fences, only people lining the street, and Brandon McNulty rode between them on his way to the rainbow jersey. It was on that climb that Paul Seixas cramped, right in front of me. This is the Worlds seen from the roadside, and the video is below.
Race
Worlds · Men's Road Race
Winner
Brandon McNulty
Stage 0303
From the peloton,
this week
Race DiaryCover · Iss. 47
The Loudest Mountain: Grupetto on the Course for the Montréal Worlds
Two weeks after walking Mont Royal for the Grand Prix, Grupetto went back with a camera for the race the mountain had been waiting for: the men's world championship road race. The circuit has three climbs, and each had its own crowd. Camillien-Houde was packed, with a jumbotron at the top. The University of Montréal climb was a party. On the neighbourhood climb there were no fences, only people lining the street, and Brandon McNulty rode between them on his way to the rainbow jersey. It was on that climb that Paul Seixas cramped, right in front of me. This is the Worlds seen from the roadside, and the video is below.
Read the full stage
Race Report
10·10·26 · Race Report
Me Against Myself: Seixas Rides Away on the Civiglio and Breaks a 121-Year-Old Lombardia Record
For five years Il Lombardia belonged to Tadej Pogačar. With him at home mending his Vuelta injuries, the 120th edition belonged to nobody until the Civiglio, where Paul Seixas stayed in the saddle, turned the pace up, and dropped the rest of the race one rider at a time: McNulty and Del Toro first, then Pidcock, then Ciccone, with Evenepoel already gone. He rode alone from 18 km out, time-trialled over San Fermo and reached Como 48 seconds ahead of Enric Mas. At 20 years and 16 days he is the youngest winner in the race's history, beating a record Giovanni Gerbi set at the first edition in 1905. He is also the first French winner since Pinot, and the race is Decathlon's first Monument. The day began with a five-minute strike on the start line in Bergamo and ended with a winner who says he doesn't care about records.
Race Report
06·10·26 · Race Report
From the Back, at 250 Metres: Widar Beats Pidcock and Jorgenson for a First Pro Win in Varese
Tom Pidcock built the winning move with a huge acceleration on Barasso, argued Matteo Jorgenson into working, and led the three of them onto Via Sacco as the fastest finisher in the race. Then Jarno Widar — 20 years old, a neo-pro, never better than second as a professional — came off the back wheel at 250 metres and nobody closed the gap. The 105th Tre Valli Varesine had a seven-minute break with a 19-year-old from Busto Arsizio in it, a police motorbike driving the wrong way into Pidcock's teammates, a crash in sight of the line that took out Plapp and Fortunato, and a world champion who attacked and chased and finished with nothing. It ended with a sprint the kid said he had planned all along.
Opinion
01·10·26 · Opinion
Thoughts About the Worlds: What Montréal Said About American Bike Racing
A week after Brandon McNulty rode away from the best bike racers in the world with 32 km of Mont Royal to go, we sat down and talked it through for the channel: the rainbow jersey, the eight Americans who set their egos aside to win it, the loudest name on the mountain (not an American), and the awkward question underneath all of it — what does a world title mean for a country that cannot keep a stage race alive? The short version is two and a half minutes. This is the long one.
Étape 04Race Report27·09·26
Race Report
Miracles Happen: McNulty Solos to the Rainbow Jersey on the Mountain He Already Owned
No Pogačar, no radios, no script. The most unpredictable Worlds in years spent 240 kilometres refusing to pick a favourite — Van der Poel attacked at 85 to go, Del Toro at 35, everyone else in between — and then Brandon McNulty, who won the GP de Montréal on these roads last year and was third here a fortnight ago, rode off the front with 32 km left and never came back. A minute up, ten seconds up, thirteen at the line: the first American rainbow jersey since 1993. Michael Matthews, a day past his 36th birthday and two years past thinking his career was over, won the sprint for silver from Van der Poel. Grupetto was on the mountain for all twelve laps, and Montréal was the loudest place in cycling.
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Étape 05Race Report26·09·26
Race Report
Now It's Mine: Vollering Beats Niewiadoma-Phinney to the Rainbow Jersey in Montréal
Eight laps of Mont Royal, one Dutch lead-out and 38 kilometres of doubt. Demi Vollering attacked with three climbs of Camillien-Houde to go, rode alone for the better part of two laps, was caught, watched Elisa Longo Borghini ride away at the bell — and still had the legs to close it, drop the Italian, and beat Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney in a two-up sprint that replayed the Tour de France on the final rise. A first rainbow jersey after three Worlds medals of the wrong colour, and the Triple Crown — Giro, Tour and Worlds in one season — for only the second woman ever. Behind, a sixteen-rider crash had already ended Magdeleine Vallières Mill's home title defence in tears.
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Étape 06Race Report20·09·26
Race Report
Four in a Row: Evenepoel Crushes the Worlds Time Trial in Montréal
Nobody had ever won four straight world time trial titles. Nobody had ever really been close. On 39.2 technical kilometres through Montréal, Remco Evenepoel ended the argument at the first split and spent the rest of the afternoon widening it: fastest at every checkpoint, the only man over 52 km/h, and 57 seconds clear of Filippo Ganna at the line. Paul Seixas, 19, took bronze a week after pushing Del Toro on these same roads. Evenepoel now sits level with Cancellara and Tony Martin on four titles — except neither of them did it in a row, and neither of them looked like this doing it.
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Étape 07Race Report19·09·26
Race Report
Alone for 175 Kilometres: Van der Poel Ends Luxembourg With the Ride of the Year
There is long-range, and then there is what Mathieu van der Poel did to the final stage of the Tour de Luxembourg: attacked on the first unclassified rise with 175 km still to race, found himself alone, and simply stayed there all day — one of the longest successful solo breakaways in the sport's recorded history. Six chasers organised and failed; the peloton never saw him again; and he crossed the line 1:04 clear of Mikkel Honoré. "That was not the plan," he said afterwards, which is the most frightening sentence of the week. Davide Piganzoli quietly sealed the overall. Seven days before the Worlds road race, subtlety is officially dead.
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Étape 08Race Report16·09·26
Race Report
Caught and Uncatchable Anyway: Van der Poel Opens the Tour de Luxembourg
Mathieu van der Poel's idea of World Championships preparation is to attack a five-day stage race from 11 kilometres out, get hauled back with four to go, and then win the sprint anyway. Stage 1 of the Tour de Luxembourg looped 157 km around the capital's climbs to a finish at the Fëschmaart, and the Dutchman treated it as a dress rehearsal with the volume all the way up: the long raid with Eike Behrens bridging, the catch, Bagioli's late flyer — and a 500-metre counter that nobody held. Gautherat and Van den Berg completed the podium; Van der Poel took the jersey. Montréal has been warned.
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Étape 09Race Report16·09·26
Race Report
Twenty Years Old on the Citadelle: Sparfel Stuns Namur
The Grand Prix de Wallonie always ends the same way — everyone together at the foot of the Citadelle de Namur, and three cobbled kilometres to sort the brave from the strong. This year the strong included Tim Wellens, Romain Grégoire and Paul Lapeira, and the winner was none of them: Aubin Sparfel, 20 years old, surged past Grégoire's sprint in the final metres to take the biggest win of his young career for Decathlon CMA CGM. For Grégoire, second on the wall a week after leading out the wrong man in Pescara, the autumn is being cruel with its margins. For French cycling, the production line just shipped another one.
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