Remco Evenepoel and Mathieu van der Poel are putting in the work together as they build toward the world championships in Montreal. Just a couple of bros getting the volume in before they head on over to Canada for the biggest race of the year. No biggie, Canadian Cycling Magazine. It’s key not to fanboy/girl over this stuff. Anywho, let’s continue.
Oh, Canada!
Evenepoel shared a photo from a training ride on Strava featuring Van der Poel, captioning it simply: “Project Canada.”
The double Olympic champ is coming off a second-place finish at the Tour de France and a victory at Clásica San Sebastián. He will now turn his attention to the world championships, where he will be among the favourites for the road race. There’s also a Slovenian who may be up for it.
Van der Poel also has a busy autumn ahead. Before heading to Montreal for the road worlds, the eight-time ‘cross champ is targeting the mountain bike world championships in Val di Sole in two weeks. He could also race the World Cup in Les Gets next weekend.
For now, the pair are using the altitude of Livigno to prepare for their respective goals—and getting some training miles together along the way.
Montreal 2026
The 2026 UCI road world champs go from Sept. 20 to 27 in Montreal. It’s been a while since Canada’s had the world champs—the last time was 2023 in Hamilton. Previously it was 1974 when some guy named Eddy Merckx won.
You can check out the under-23 and elite men’s squad here, along with the junior men and women’s selection here. Given the Tour de France Femmes, Cycling Canada has told Canadian Cycling Magazine that the women’s team will be announced next week. But either way, it’s gonna be a banger of a week! If you can’t go, don’t you worry, the folks at CCM are all over it. Instagram, stories galore, we gotchu.