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Chasing History: The Quest for a World Title like no other
Remco Evenepoel is fighting for his fourth consecutive World Championship time trial title – a novum in the history of cycling.
Making history. That is what drives Remco Evenepoel. At the start of the World Championships in Montréal, the Belgian has yet another chance to do just that. When the men’s elite time trial is on the programme on the opening day (20 September), Remco aims to defend his title. Once again.
2023, 2024, 2025 – the 26-year-old has already won three time trial titles. In the still relatively short history of time trial events at World Championships, which only began in 1994, two other professionals – Michael Rogers and Tony Martin – have also claimed the title three times in a row. Martin and Fabian Cancellara have been world champions four times in total. But no one has yet managed four consecutive victories.
“I can be the first. That makes it very exciting for me.”
“I can be the first,” Remco realises. “That makes it very exciting for me.” He has competed in three individual time trials this year, winning them all. Across the seasons, he has racked up five consecutive victories. He is therefore inevitably the favourite. And Remco is embracing that role. “I don’t feel any extra pressure because of it. My performance won’t suffer as a result,” he says. “I put the most pressure on myself anyway.”
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In the middle of the river and across the F1 circuit: the spectacular time trial route
In Montréal, 39.2 kilometres await the time trialists in the elite category. Since Remco became time trial world champion, the course has never been shorter. The 220 metres of elevation gain are also less than in the recent past. Most of this elevation gain comes in the final stretch. The route begins on the eastern slope of Montréal’s local mountain, Mont Royal, which lies at the heart of the city. The first few kilometres are slightly downhill and lead to the St Lawrence River, which the route initially follows upstream.
The profile of the elite men’s World Championship time trial course 2026
© UCI
It then crosses the river via an estacade – a kind of narrow causeway that was originally built to control the drift of ice on the water. The route remains spectacular thereafter as well. The circuit now follows another dam, along which a cycle path runs through the water in the direction of the current. Six kilometres straight ahead, all the way to Île Notre-Dame.
The island, which was originally artificially created for the 1967 World Expo, is home to the Montréal Formula 1 circuit, the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve. The drivers complete a full lap on this circuit – so it is no coincidence that Remco most recently trained at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. The route then crosses a bridge back to the mainland, through the harbour and finally back to the starting point, from where it continues along Avenue du Parc.
Fast cornering
© Joerg Mitter / Red Bull Content Pool
That is also where the Grand Prix de Cycliste de Montréal finished. And the road races at this World Championships will do the same. The final 400 metres feature an average gradient of around six per cent and are the only significant climb on a course that otherwise consists of many long straights, but also includes a few chicanes and therefore features some technically demanding sections.
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“It’s just you” – the special appeal of the time trial
Remco will go into the race well prepared. “My full focus will initially be on the time trial,” he says. This will be followed by two days’ rest before he turns his attention to the road race. There, too, there is a sense that history could be made. Never before have the World Championship titles in the time trial and the road race been held by the same rider. He already achieved a similar feat at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. But one thing at a time.
Remco Evenepoel draws confidence from previous World Championship titles.
© Getty Images
“I draw most of my confidence from my preparation. If everything goes well there, my motivation is higher. And if things have gone well at a previous event, that gives me an extra five per cent,” says Remco. Three titles in a row should be enough for that.
An hour of just you and no one else – that’s the special appeal of time trials for me.
Especially when racing against the clock. “Because apart from perhaps bad luck with mechanical problems, everything is in your own hands. An hour just you and no one else – that’s the special appeal of time trials for me.”
From the ranks of the 30-strong Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe World Championships squad in Canada, Callum Thornley, Jan Tratnik and Aleksandr Vlasov will also be lining up for the elite time trial. In the past, the battle for the rainbow jersey has rarely gone well for riders from the team, at least in the elite competition. The Czech Jan Bárta is the only one to have made it into the top 10 – finishing seventh in 2012 and ninth two years later. That is now set to change at last.
