2026 Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal preview: a new circuit, a fortnight before the Worlds use it

Montréal has rebuilt its course this year to match the one the World Championships will use later in the month. The lap is now 13.4 kilometres rather than the shorter loop of previous editions, the race distance rises from 209.1km to 214.4km, and the circuit is close to identical to the Worlds layout.

The World Championships open in Quebec and Montréal the following week, with the elite men's road race on 27 September. That makes this the most useful reconnaissance available to any rider or team with ambitions there.

• Date: Sunday 13 September
• Race type: One-day, 1.UWT
• Distance: 214.4km
• Elevation gain: 4,304m
• Circuit: 13.4km, sixteen laps
• Start and finish: Avenue du Parc

The start is on avenue du Parc and the road turns uphill almost immediately. From the second kilometre the riders climb Mount Royal towards the Camillien-Houde summit, the hardest ascent on the lap and the one that shapes the race. Sources differ on how it measures, with the organisers of the Worlds giving 2.3km at 6.2 per cent and other listings quoting 1,800 metres at 8 per cent, but the effect is the same either way: a sustained climb, sixteen times over.

The Polytechnique follows, shorter but steeper, with pitches beyond 11 percent. A final smaller rise towards Pagnuelo completes the climbing before the lap returns to avenue du Parc on a false flat that drags upwards to the line.

The change for 2026 is the addition of an urban section between those climbs and the finish, running via avenue du Mont-Royal Ouest, rue Saint-Urbain and avenue des Pins Ouest. It adds distance rather than difficulty, but it changes the rhythm of the lap and the positioning battle before Camillien-Houde comes round again.

• Circuit | 13.4km | sixteen laps
• Camillien-Houde | main climb of the lap, from km 2
• Polytechnique | shorter, with sections above 11%
• Pagnuelo | final rise before the run to the line
• Avenue du Parc | uphill false flat to the finish

The obvious absence shapes everything. Tadej Pogačar won here in 2022 and 2024 and effectively decided the 2025 edition too, riding to the line alongside Brandon McNulty and letting his teammate take it. 

We now have the definitive answer from the World Champion and UAE that his 2026 season is over following his Vuelta crash, which left him with a fractured clavicle and a stable C7 fracture. 

Therefore, those who are targeting victory at the GP Montréal will also have their eyes set on the rainbow jersey two weeks later. 

Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) is among the standout contenders on the provisional start list. He was second at this year's Tour de France, 6:26 down on Pogačar, and is arguably better suited to Montréal than to Québec. 

Sixteen laps of a climb wear a field down rather than splitting it, which is the kind of attrition he converts into victory. Evenepoel carried his post-Tour form to win a record-breaking fourth Clasica San Sebastian, and if his form is anything like it was in July, he will be a difficult man to beat. 

As it stands, Evenepoel is likely to be the favourite to win the rainbow jersey, and he will want to put the final steps in place in his final preparations before the Worlds.

Despite the absence of Pogačar, UAE will still firmly believe in their chances of defending their crown in Montréal. Defending champion Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) is set to return to action for the first time since abandoning the Tour with illness on stage 18.

Fortunately for the American, the pressure will not weigh solely on his shoulders, as the Emirati team also has one of the pre-race favourites in Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).

The Mexican champion expanded on his third place at the Tour by marching to overall victory at the Lidl Deutschland Tour in late August, taking a stage win along the way. 

Del Toro will be one of many contenders on the start list, making his debut at the GP Montréal, and now, with the absence of his teammate Pogačar, he will have genuine belief that he could become the first Mexican road race World Champion, and will want a strong final performance before the main event. 

Igor Arrieta and Jan Christen could also be wildcard options, underlining the strength in depth of UAE.

Another debutant in Montréal is Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM), who also brings one of the deepest squads, with Paul Lapeira, Tiesj Benoot and Nicolas Prodhomme. 

Seixas was fourth at the Tour, as the youngest starter in 90 years, and has risen up the ranks of the pro peloton to the point where he could surpass Karel Kaers in 1934 as the youngest winner of the elite men’s road race at the Worlds. 

The GP Montréal suits the Frenchman better than Québec does, as it provides him the option to make the race more attritional, and Decathlon have the numbers to do so.

Following his mountain bike world title victory in Val di Sole, Italy, Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5) returned to the road with a bang, soloing to victory at the GP Industria & Artigianato. The Briton has the acceleration for the Polytechnique, which is where the race has been decided more often than on Camillen-Houde.

The Lidl-Trek duo of Giulio Ciccone and Juan Ayuso also both climb well enough to be there at the finish, with Ciccone the likelier to attack from distance, and their fellow teammate Quinn Simmons was third last year and has the durability for a challenging race.

Alberto Bettiol (XDS-Astana) was tenth in 2025. Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto Intermarché), Louis Barré, Bart Lemmen, and Wilco Kelderman (Visma | Lease a Bike) complete some of the notable and confirmed entries.