Women's Road World Championships 2026: Route Preview and Favourites
The elite women race for the rainbow jersey in Montreal on Saturday 26 September, the day before the men. At 180.4 km with 2,570 metres of climbing, it is a hard, selective course built on the same Mount Royal circuit the men use — eight laps instead of twelve, but proportionally just as demanding, and with fewer chances to recover from a mistake.
The route: Brossard to eight laps of Mount Royal
The race starts in Brossard alongside the men's course, heading through Carignan, Chambly and Richelieu in the Monteregie before crossing the Samuel De Champlain Bridge into Montreal. The approach is shorter than the men's, which changes the shape of the race: teams reach the circuit fresher, and the selection has to be made on the laps themselves.
The finishing circuit is the 13.4 km Mount Royal loop, ridden eight times for 2,570 metres of total climbing. Most of the peloton knows it from the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal. With four fewer laps than the men, a rider who loses contact has far less time to come back — attacks that would be premature in the men's race are viable here.
The three tests on every lap
The Voie Camillien-Houde is the main climb at 2.3 km averaging 6.2%. Across eight laps it is the grinding, cumulative test that empties legs before the decisive move.
The Chemin de la Polytechnique is short but carries ramps beyond 11%, and it is where the race is most likely to split. It rewards explosive power over sustained climbing.
The finish along Avenue du Parc is a rising false flat — flat on paper, uphill in the legs. A rider arriving alone can hold a small gap here; a group arriving together faces a sprint that punishes anyone who has emptied themselves on the last climb.
Who can win
The headline is a familiar one: Lotte Kopecky of Belgium and Demi Vollering of the Netherlands are expected to renew the rivalry that has defined recent women's racing. Their strengths differ in a way this course makes interesting — Kopecky is the more explosive and much the faster finisher, Vollering the stronger pure climber over repeated ascents. Whether the race is decided on the Polytechnique ramps or by attrition across eight laps of Camillien-Houde may determine which of them it suits.
The field is now taking shape through federation announcements. Italy brings Elisa Longo Borghini and Silvia Persico, France has climbers and punchers including Evita Muzic and Cédrine Kerbaol, Spain has Mavi García and Paula Blasi, while the United States includes Kristen Faulkner. Depth matters enormously on a circuit where positioning before every climb is part of the race.
The startlist is still provisional, so the pool treats the road race and time trial separately and only makes a rider selectable when there is a published basis to include her. That keeps the game useful without pretending a changing field is final days before the start.
The time trial
The elite women open the entire championships on Sunday 20 September at 09:00, on exactly the same 39.2 km course the men ride later that day. It is long and nearly flat, at around 220 metres of elevation, running past Old Montreal, along the Saint Lawrence, around the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and through Parc Jean-Drapeau before returning over the Concorde Bridge.
A flat 39.2 km is an unusually pure test of sustained power, and one of the longer women's world championship time trials in recent years. Expect the specialists rather than the climbers.
Who takes the rainbow jersey in Montreal? Make your prediction and see how your call compares with everyone else's. The rider list is updated only from confirmed selection information.