2026 World Championships junior men's road race preview | Benjamin Noval tops the list in a race full of future talent

2025 Harry Hudson
2024 Lorenzo Finn
2023 Albert Withen Philipsen
2022 Emil Herzog
2021 Per Strand Hagenes
2020: Not held
2019 Quinn Simmons
2018 Remco Evenepoel
2017 Julius Johansen
2016 Jakob Egholm

While the elite riders will start in Brossard on Saturday and Sunday, the U23 and junior races will feature riders exclusively from Montreal. The entire race takes place on the circuit, so there is no flat opening section, which means it will be a race from start to finish.

All right, so we’re familiar with that 13.4-kilometer circuit from the annual Montreal Grand Prix. Aside from one small detail—the U-turn just before the finish line has been widened slightly—it’s an exact replica, so we know what to expect in terms of the track: in particular, the Camillien-Houde section in Mont Royal Park will be the deciding factor, though we shouldn’t underestimate the rest of the course.

Immediately after the finish area, riders turn left onto Avenue de Parc to begin the climb through the trees on the Côte de Camillien-Houde. The statistics for this climb show a 1.6-kilometer ascent with an average gradient of 7.5 percent, with the final 400 meters climbing at a 9.1 percent gradient.

Next, we descend before tackling the next climb along the stretch leading to Chemin de la Polytechnique: this climb is 800 meters long, with a gradient of just under 6 percent. It’s tricky, as the climb is divided into three steeper sections and two short plateaus. A little further along the course, after a few turns where you can quickly lose sight of the pack, the incline at Avenue Pagnuelo also awaits: 500 meters at a 7.5 percent gradient.

Just as quickly, the riders will then be at the finish line. Anyone who watched the time trials during the first part of the World Championships will have noticed that the course is anything but flat. The final 550 meters do indeed climb at a steep gradient of about 4 percent. All told, that adds up to 2,690 meters of elevation gain over 134 kilometers, which is very challenging for the juniors.

Thursday is perhaps the best day for racing in Montreal, although it may still be a bit chilly in the morning. In the afternoon, however, it will be sunny, with temperatures expected to reach around 21 degrees Celsius.

Start: 1:30 p.m. (7:30 p.m. Dutch time)Finish: 5:00 p.m. (11:00 p.m. Dutch time)

There are still plenty of riders left, but many of the men who made the biggest impression this season are no longer in the race. Seff Van Kerckhove, who—according to the statistics website FirstCycling—was the Belgian rider with the best junior stats ever leading up to this World Championship, was hit by a car in Canada and had to withdraw.

The Netherlands’ top contender, Winand Breuckers, is also out of the race. He fractured his vertebrae in a crash at the Rüebliland Grand Prix. In addition, among the potential top favorites for the race in Montreal, we won’t see Germany’s Karl Herzog (leg injury) or France’s Soen Le Pann (knee injury) in action either.

Are there any? First and foremost, the top three finishers in the World Time Trial Championships. Spain’s Benjamin Noval won the time trial, will skip the U23 category next year, and hopes to cap off his junior career with another world title.

Belgian Vic De Smet has also been impressing all season and continued that streak in Montreal by winning silver. He’ll also lead the Belgian team on Thursday, but as a freshman, we shouldn’t expect everything from him just yet. The same goes for the Netherlands’ Jop van den Biggelaar, who is also 17 years old .

Malthe Risbjerg of Denmark (third in the time trial), Sweden’s Elias Wändel (who missed the time trial due to an injury and whose status is therefore still somewhat uncertain) and Britain’s Finlay Storie continue to represent JEGG-Skil-DJR, the development team of Visma | Lease a Bike.

From Italy, we’re definitely keeping an eye on Patrick Pezzo Rosola, Enrico Balliana, and Brandon Fredrizzi—just as Austria’s Michael Hettegger, France’s Simon Defrance and Lancelot Gayant, and Norway’s Sindre Orholm Lonseth and Kristian Haugetun have been impressing us all year long.

We also see the Czech rider Daniel Kubena, Australian Connor Wright (who recently won the MTB world championship), as a strong contender, as well as Enzo Hincapie from the U.S. (son of) and the exciting Slovenian rider Maj Bohak.

Top Favorites: Benjamin Noval (Spain) and Vic De Smet (Belgium)
Dark horses: Malthe Risbjerg (Denmark), Michael Hettegger (Austria), Patrik Pezzo Rosola (Italy), and Elias Wändel (Sweden)
Long shots: Enzo Hincapie (United States), Aitor Martinez (Spain), Brandon Fredrizzi (Italy), Simon Defrance (France), Kristian Haugetun (Norway), Connor Wright (Australia), Finlay Storrie (Great Britain), Maj Bohak (Slovenia), and Jop van den Biggelaar (Netherlands) the