Canada - For one week, Montréal revolved around the rainbow jersey. The elite women’s time trial opened the World Championships on 20 September, followed later that day by the elite men’s time trial. The road race closed the championships on 27 September. In between, junior, U23 and elite riders chased their own world titles on Canadian roads. Belgian Cycling lined up in Bioracer, with Remco Evenepoel setting the tone by winning the time trial.
📸 Images: Belga Image
The road to the rainbow
Belgium arrived in Montréal with two leaders and five riders ready to shape the race for them. Remco Evenepoel came into Sunday as the fresh time trial world champion. Wout van Aert started as co-leader, a rider who can win from almost any situation. On the road, the race would redraw that plan.
Tiesj Benoot and Gianni Vermeersch added the kind of racing sense that keeps a leader in position when the race breaks open. Alec Segaert offered pure power on the flat, ideal for controlling the gaps. Quinten Hermans and Thibau Nys completed the squad, both explosive and both shaped by years in cyclocross.
Seven riders. Two leaders. Bibs 8 to 14.
Twelve times Mont-Royal
The peloton came in from outside the city, crossed the Saint Lawrence River over the Samuel-De Champlain Bridge and entered Montréal with the skyline ahead. After an opening loop of around 100 kilometres, the riders reached the Mont-Royal circuit, where the race changed completely. What followed was twelve laps of a 13.4-kilometre circuit around Mont-Royal, with 269 metres of climbing each time.
The main obstacle was the Côte Camillien-Houde, 1.7 kilometres at an average of 7.4%. After the descent came the Chemin de la Polytechnique, where sections rise above 11%, before the route continued over the rolling roads around the mountain and back towards the uphill finish on Avenue du Parc.
Repeated twelve times, those short climbs gradually turned the race into an elimination. In total, the elite men covered 273.4 kilometres and 3,803 metres of elevation gain. Remco Evenepoel was the first Belgian across the line in 6:17:29, finishing 12th, 25 seconds behind winner Brandon McNulty. Tiesj Benoot stayed with the Belgian group deep into the race and finished 25th, while Wout van Aert attacked with the front group around 87 km from the finish, then later dropped back to help bring Remco Evenepoel back towards the favourites before finishing 28th.
Suited for speed
Six hours on Mont-Royal and a time trial against the clock ask different things of a rider, and of what they wear. For Montréal, Belgian Cycling packed three important pieces from Bioracer's Speedwear range.
Speedwear Concept Road Race Suit
Built for long days at race speed. Aerodynamic where it matters, comfortable enough to still fit right in the sixth hour. Belgian riders including Remco Evenepoel and Thibau Nys have raced it in some of their biggest wins. In Montréal it had to hold up over 273 kilometres and twelve climbs of the Camillien-Houde.
Speedwear Aero Socks
Small detail, measurable difference. The socks complete the aero profile of the road race and time trial suit, right where the legs cut through the air on every pedal stroke. When a race is decided by seconds, that detail counts.
Speedmaster 3.1 Stratos
The time trial suit. Designed for fast efforts between 47 and 57 km/h, with breathable Stratos fabric and taped seams. Remco Evenepoel wore it for multiple world titles and Olympic time trial gold. On 20 September in Montréal, he added another rainbow jersey in it.
Five medals
Belgium left Montréal with five medals. Four of them were won against the clock.
Gold for Evenepoel
Remco Evenepoel opened the week the way he likes it best. On 20 September, he won the time trial over 39.2 km, finishing 57 seconds ahead of Filippo Ganna. Evenepoel set the fastest time at every intermediate checkpoint on a course that mixed a technical start and finish with a long power section through the middle. He stopped the clock at 44:53.13, averaging 52.4 km/h.
It was his fourth consecutive world title in the discipline, after Stirling 2023, Zürich 2024 and Kigali 2025, making him the first rider to win four successive elite men’s individual time trial world titles. Belgium’s first rainbow jersey of Montréal was secured.
The next generation
The younger categories added four more. In the junior time trials, Vic De Smet and Yana Decruyenaere both took silver. Luca Vierstraete won bronze in the women's U23 time trial. Fleur Moors took the only Belgian medal on the road, bronze in the women's U23 road race.
Five medals. Four against the clock. And a new generation already knocking on the door.
Athlete ID
Remco Evenepoel
Name: Remco Evenepoel
Date of Birth: January 25, 2000
Place of Birth: Aalst, Belgium
Nationality: Belgian
Career victories: 79