Welcome to a wide-open World Championships.

The men’s road race, scheduled for Sunday, September 27, in the Canadian city of Montreal, is an event where two dozen riders have a realistic shot at winning the rainbow jersey. In contrast, the previous two editions have been won by Tadej Pogačar after solo attacks from 100km and 70km out, respectively.

But with the Slovenian absent after breaking his collarbone in a crash at the Vuelta a España last month, the likes of Remco Evenepoel, Isaac del Toro and Paul Seixas are now elevated into the roles of favorites, not mere contenders.

At a punishing 273km (170 miles), the World Championship parcours always resembles a Monument.

Starting in the suburb of Brossard, riders will complete a flat 103km loop to the east of Montreal before 12 laps of a 13.4km circuit in the city centre. Each lap will see an ascent of the Voie Camillien-Houde (1.6km at 7.8 percent) in the wooded Mount Royal Park, producing a total 3,720m of ascent. It suits an explosive puncheur — and fortunately, there are plenty of those in this year’s peloton.

Here is The Athletic’s run-down of the top 10 contenders in the men’s race (a separate preview of the women’s road race, which is on September 26, will follow on Friday) — plus some other names to look out for.

1. Remco Evenepoel, 26, Belgium

The Pogačar-lite of the 2026 field — though perhaps that is unfair on him.

Evenepoel won the world title in Wollongong, south of Sydney, in dominant fashion in 2022, attacking with 26km remaining to win by over two minutes. With over 4,000m of elevation on that day, which featured 11 loops of a circuit including a 1.1km climb at 8.6 percent, the two courses have massive similarities.

The Belgian was the second-best climber at this summer’s Tour de France, and rode an impressive one-day season this spring — finishing on the podium of the Tour of Flanders and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, and winning the Amstel Gold Race. Victory in the Quebec Grand Prix last week shows his form — having only competed in three race days since the Tour ended in late July, he has targeted these championships.

Evenepoel’s time-trialling ability means that should he forge a gap, no other rider has the capability to stay away from the chasers — while by the same token, his engine gives him the belief (and usually the capability) to bridge any gap. In all likelihood, he will have already won the time-trial seven days earlier — plenty of time to recover for the road race.

What could stop him? Other riders are perhaps more explosive in sprints or over short climbs — and while Evenepoel’s tactical aggression has netted him huge prizes, it can cause him to burn energy early in the day. A question mark also lies over Belgium’s tactics in this event — with countryman Wout Van Aert also eyeing up the winner’s rainbow jersey. Can they work together?

Evenepoel (left) and Isaac del Toro finished second and third behind Pogačar at the 2026 Tour de France (Jasper Jacobs / Belga Mag / AFP via Getty Images)

2. Isaac del Toro, 22, Mexico

Del Toro looked sensational en route to winning the Montreal Grand Prix on Sunday — floating his way into the leading pack, following the decisive move from Paul Seixas, and then searing away in the two-up sprint.

Much of the young Mexican’s career has been spent in the service of Pogačar, including a third-place finish at this year’s Tour, but there are signs he could be an extremely impressive one-day rider as well.

He finished third on the white, gravelled roads of Strade Bianche in March, while last year saw a remarkable 11 wins in one-day races, including Milano-Torino. There have been questions about his ability in events over 250km, but seventh place at last year’s World Championships road race, a rare occasion in which he was able to ride for himself, dampens some of that concern.

Del Toro probably has the best sprint of the top climbers, meaning that if a hard race finishes in a small group, he is the likely favorite.

So what are the major question marks?

Well, his form is typically more undulating than with Evenepoel and Seixas, while he is also the only rider of note on the Mexico team. It means he will need to win any race on his own wits — or at least forge alternative underhand alliances through UAE Team Emirates XRG colleagues — but riders such as Richard Carapaz of Ecuador, at the Tokyo Olympics, have shown that major races can be won in this manner.

3. Paul Seixas, 19, France

Seixas only turns 20 three days before this race. Should he win, he will become the youngest World Champion in cycling’s long history. Bonus points to whoever had the name Karel Kaers (who was 20 years and 76 days old in 1934) on the tip of their tongue.

Lance Armstrong, Greg LeMond and Eddy Merckx are among the other youngest-ever winners of the rainbow jersey.

So how could Seixas do it? He is relatively untested in races over 250km, but is possibly the best pure climber at this race. In Montreal on Sunday, he rode every rider but Del Toro off his wheel — and nearly snapped the elastic to the Mexican on the final lap.

At both this year’s Strade Bianche and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Seixas was clearly the second-best rider in the field behind Pogačar — and these are two races which bear similarities to the World Championships’ parcours.

The France team is also very impressive, filled with excellent climbing domestiques who will be focused on their younger colleague — the likes of Pavel Sivakov, Nicolas Prodhomme, Bruno Armirail and Valentin Paret-Peintre — while riders such as Alex Baudin and Jordan Jegat could be used to form the early break, and make the pace of the race extremely tough. It is possible to see a world in which Seixas is the only one with teammates among a final selection of five to six riders — giving him the ability to launch an all-out attack.

Should he deliver as he did over the Côte de la Redoute at Liège-Bastogne-Liège (1.5km at 9.5 per cent, averaging just under nine watts per kilogram), it is difficult to see any riders following him. But at such a young age — will he have the legs?

Seixas finished fourth at this year’s Tour as a teenager; the Worlds will be the first race of his twenties (Anne-Christine Poujoulat / AFP via Getty Images)

4. Wout Van Aert, 32, Belgium

Having finally won Paris-Roubaix, adding the race he prized above all else to his palmares, Van Aert can turn his attention to another event. The Belgian has never won the World Championships — finishing second in 2020 and 2023 — despite, for much of his career, being the best all-round bike rider in the world.

Van Aert was in fantastic form at the recent Vuelta a España, helping teammate Matthew Brennan to five stage victories while taking two of his own.

The equation is pretty simple for Van Aert. If he makes it to the finish in a small group, it is almost certain he will win.

But every other rider in the race knows this — and will attempt to gap Van Aert over the climbs. He is explosive enough to stay in the front group over a couple of attacks, but for 12 laps? In all likelihood, one of the top three favorites will make this race tough enough early that Van Aert is forced to drop back.

Could he win from an early break? Possibly… although with Evenepoel also in the Belgian team, how will the joint leaders be managed? The pair both won medals at the 2024 Olympics, though effectively worked independently of each other. It is difficult to see one working for the other, while still retaining their own chances of winning the rainbow jersey.

5. Tom Pidcock, 27, Great Britain

Pidcock’s aggression and punch give him an excellent opportunity here. For proof of his candidacy, go back to this spring’s Milan-San Remo — when he was the only rider able to go with Pogačar over the Cipressa and Poggio, only losing out in the sprint by a wheel.

Allied with previous victories at Strade Bianche and in Amstel Gold, and Pidcock’s pedigree in long one-day races should not be doubted.

He is also in winning form, having won the mountain bike cross-country world title last month — should he win in Montreal next week, he will be the first male rider to boast the world championships in cross-country, in cyclo-cross and on the road.

For that to happen, he will have to pull off some sort of tactical coup — Seixas, Evenepoel and Del Toro are all better pure climbers.

Pidcock, however, is excellent at reading races and has an impressive finishing kick — he could ride off the front while the other favorites watch each other.

Pidcock has already won one rainbow jersey this year – can he add another? (Francesco Minghetti/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images)

6. Jhonatan Narváez, 29, Ecuador

His teammate Carapaz is the better-known rider in Ecuador’s squad — but given the miles in Carapaz’s legs after the Vuelta a Espańa, Narváez may have the better chance of glory in Montreal. The UAE Team Emirates XRG rider is a master of the breakaway; he took three victories in messy stages at this spring’s Giro d’Italia — and few races are messier than the World Championships.

He will not win from a group of favorites but could easily get away early and surf the groups to victory. Remember that cooperation between chasing groups is far harder in international events than during WorldTour races. Narváez climbs beautifully and kicks like a donkey — he is the most dangerous of the breakaway riders.

7. Mauro Schmid, 26, Switzerland

Set to join Pidcock at Pinarello-Q36.5 next year, Schmid has had a fantastic season. He won his first Grand Tour stage after escaping from a group including his future teammate on stage 13 of the Tour de France, while also securing high placings at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Flèche Wallonne and Amstel Gold.

The largest improvement has been in his climbing, which allows him to access one-day races of this profile — the guy’s engine is massive. Like Narváez, his best chance comes from being part of a powerful early break.

Watch out for some of his teammates as well — this is a strong group, and 22-year-old Jan Christen could also feature in the latter stages.

8. Mathieu van der Poel, 31, Netherlands

Van der Poel is a fantastic rider — but this parcours looks as if it will probably be too hard for him to take a second world title after his 2023 win in Glasgow. But of course, he is always capable of the remarkable.

He has not raced on the road since the Tour, so his condition is a relative mystery — although he found last month’s cross-country world championships to be a difficult experience, in stark contrast to Pidcock.

Like Van Aert, Van der Poel will need this to be a slow race if he is to win — but his Belgian rival has slightly more climbing capacity. A breakaway seems Van der Poel’s only realistic option.

Van der Poel celebrates his world road-race win in Glasgow three years ago (Oli Scarff / AFP via Getty Images)

9. Ben Healy, 26, Ireland

Over the past three seasons, Healy has established himself as the peloton’s great breakaway artist — taking victories at the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia from long-distance solo attacks. Both those stages had a similar profile to this race, while Healy also finished an impressive third at last year’s edition in Rwanda. In short, the harder the stage, the better Healy will usually do.

After his remarkable 2025 season, Healy has found this one much more difficult, not helped by a broken sacral bone (at the base of the spine) suffered at Itzulia, the Basque Country’s WorldTour stage race, in April.

However, an excellent performance at the Montreal GP, in which he led solo until the final lap, shows how the Irishman might win. If he goes solo with 40km remaining, watch out.

10. Quinn Simmons, 25, United States

Like Schmid, the very recognizable silhouette of Simmons is ultra-attacking and has vastly improved his climbing. Probably the most aggressive rider in the professional peloton, the Colorado-born rider has won three national titles — but has never taken a major one-day race or Grand Tour stage.

Others are better pure climbers, but Simmons is guaranteed to at least ask the question — and top-five finishes at both the Quebec GP and Montreal GP last week demonstrate he can mix it with the elite.

He is not the only option on the American team — Matteo Jorgenson and Brandon McNulty both have the capabilities to survive a strong break, with the latter in particular being in superb form.

Can Simmons swap out his US national champion jersey for a rainbow equivalent? (Loic Venance / AFP via Getty Images)

Honorable mentions

As well as those already mentioned in dispatches — Christen, McNulty and Jorgenson — several other riders have more than a puncheur’s chance (sorry…).

The Spain team features both Juan Ayuso and new Vuelta a España winner Enric Mas. Ayuso possibly lacks the top-end explosivity, while surely Mas’ legs are not in race-winning shape given his exertions over the past month — but the Mallorcan is in the form of his career.

Primož Roglič, who also had a good Vuelta, will lead the Slovenian team in Pogačar’s absence.

Similarly, Norway’s Tobias Halland Johannessen has been one of the most exciting riders in the world this season, finally achieving his first Grand Tour stage win on the final day of the Vuelta on Sunday.

Mads Pedersen of Denmark left the Vuelta early, struggling with illness, to prepare for the Worlds — however, he probably falls into the same camp as Van der Poel, given the amount of climbing on the course.

His Lidl-Trek teammate Giulio Ciccone has the kick to win from the breakaway — while another member of the Italy team, under-23 world champion and recent Tour de l’Avenir winner Lorenzo Finn, is the great unknown. A top 10 finish for the 19-year-old is not out of the question.

Lorenzo Finn won the Under-23 world road-race title in Rwanda last year. Twelve months on, he is set to ride with the seniors (Anne-Christine Poujoulat / AFP via Getty Images)

Most likely to…

Win the race solo — Remco Evenepoel
Win in a small sprint — Isaac del Toro
Win in a hard race — Paul Seixas
Win in an easy race — Wout van Aert
Surprise from the breakaway — Jhonatan Narváez.