2026 GP Montreal preview | Evenepoel and Pidcock face World Championships dress rehearsal

After Remco Evenepoel won the GP Quebec on Friday, the second race of the Canadian WorldTour double-header follows on Sunday. The GP Montreal carries even more prestige than usual this year, and that has everything to do with the World Cycling Championships. In two weeks' time, the road race will be held on almost the same circuit in the Canadian metropolis. IDL Pro Cycling takes you through everything you need to know!

The list of previous GP Montreal winners tells you exactly what kind of legs are required to win this race: serious quality. The roll of honor is packed with top-class names, although there has been something of a shift since the coronavirus-enforced break. Where Montreal once tended to favor more powerful Classics riders, the race has increasingly moved in the direction of the climbers.

Last year, victory went to Brandon McNulty, with the approval of team leader Tadej Pogacar. In 2024, Pogacar himself won the race in phenomenal fashion. UAE Team Emirates-XRG has, in fact, won each of the past four editions, with Adam Yates taking victory in 2023 and Pogacar also coming out on top in 2022.

2025 Brandon McNulty
2024 Tadej Pogacar
2023 Adam Yates
2022 Tadej Pogacar
2021 Not held
2020 Not held
2019 Greg Van Avermaet
2018 Michael Matthews
2017 Diego Ulissi
2016 Greg Van Avermaet

The familiar Mount Royal roads remain at the heart of the course, although the circuit has been adjusted for 2026 to closely resemble the loop that will be used at the World Championships. The riders will complete 16 laps of the 13.4-kilometer circuit, with 269 metres of elevation gain on every lap. The first and toughest major climb is the Côte Camillien-Houde, a 1.8-kilometer ascent averaging around eight percent.

After that comes a descent towards the Côte de la Polytechnique, which measures 780 metres at an average of six percent. Its steepest 200 metres reach around eleven percent, making this one of the locations that could prove crucial tactically. The riders then take on the Pagnuelo climb in Parc du Mont-Royal, around 600 metres at seven percent, before a rapid descent towards the final few hundred metres.

Timing will be absolutely vital on the finishing straight. The road rises at around four percent for approximately 560 metres alongside the spectacular Mount Royal in the Canadian city. Anyone who spends too much energy too early can grind to a halt here, although the world's best riders generally know exactly how to manage an uphill finish of this kind.

The circuit is almost identical to the one that will be used for the road races at the 2026 World Cycling Championships in Montreal two weeks later, making Sunday's race a particularly valuable dress rehearsal for the rainbow jersey contenders.

Weather
Temperatures in Montreal on Sunday are expected to be around 24 degrees Celsius. There is also some chance of rain during the day, although with only moderate winds forecast, conditions are unlikely to become too extreme.

Times
Start: 10:15 a.m. local time (3:15 p.m. BST / 4:15 p.m. CEST)
Finish: 3:45 p.m. local time (8:45 p.m. BST / 9:45 p.m. CEST)

Normally, the GP Quebec and GP Montreal produce rather different types of racing, but Friday's race looked unusually similar to what we might expect on Sunday. That makes identifying the leading contenders for the GP Montreal a little easier than it might otherwise have been.

One rider clearly stood above the rest on Friday, and that was Remco Evenepoel of Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe. The Belgian had already impressed earlier in the race by closing a dangerous gap, before making the decisive selection himself with 28 kilometers remaining in Quebec and then finishing the job in style. That performance makes him the obvious favorite again on Sunday.

Behind the three leaders, Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5) finished fourth, another clear indication that his form is exactly where it needs to be. He was the only rider from the chasing group who still managed to get reasonably close. Lidl-Trek was strongly represented further up the road through Giulio Ciccone, while Quinn Simmons, Toms Skujins and the unfortunate Juan Ayuso, who crashed, also gave the team plenty of tactical options.

That strong Lidl-Trek presence discouraged attacks from riders including Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) and Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), although the Mexican also appeared not to have quite the legs he had hoped for. The same could be said of several of his teammates, including Brandon McNulty, Jhonatan Narváez, Tim Wellens and Adam Yates.

Who did look good in Quebec? Michael Matthews (Jayco AlUla), Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike), third-placed Anthon Charmig (Uno-X), Simone Gualdi, Jenno Berckmoes (Lotto-Intermarché), Max Schachmann (Soudal Quick-Step) and the EF Education-EasyPost pairing of Alex Baudin and Sean Quinn all showed encouraging signs. For Sunday's tougher race, we can probably add riders with a little more endurance to that list as well, including EF's Ben Healy and INEOS Grenadiers climber Thymen Arensman.

Top Favorites: Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) and Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5)
Outsiders: Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM), Isaac del Toro (UAE Emirates-XRG), Giulio Ciccone, and Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek)
Longshots: Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike), Michael Matthews, Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla), Anthon Charmig (Uno-X), Jenno Berckmoes (Lotto-Intermarché), Brandon McNulty, Jhonatan Narvaez (UAE Emirates-XRG), and Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek)

As with the GP Quebec, the GP Montreal will be available on HBO Max in both the United States and United Kingdom, while UK viewers can also follow the race through TNT Sports. HBO Max is scheduled to carry the complete race for British viewers from 3:00 p.m. BST, while US viewers can also watch through HBO Max. In Canada, CBC Gem offers free live coverage. Check local listings before the start, particularly if you plan to watch through a linear TV channel.