Switzerland’s Marlen Reusser and Belgian Remco Evenepoel ruled the first day of the 2026 UCI Road World Championships in Montréal, Canada, with victories in the Elite individual time trials (ITT).
The first rainbow jersey awarded on 20 September went to Switzerland’s Marlen Reusser, who celebrated her 35th birthday in spectacular fashion as she retained the title she claimed last year in Kigali, Rwanda. She was followed by two newcomers on the Women Elite ITT podium – Great Britain’s Zoe Bäckstedt and Germany’s Franziska Koch.
Soon after, Remco Evenepoel retained his rainbow jersey in the Men Elite ITT. The Belgian superstar made history by becoming the first rider to win the title in four successive editions. After Stirling, Scotland (Great Britain, 2023), Zürich (Switzerland, 2024) and Kigali (Rwanda, 2025), he ruled Montréal ahead of Italy’s Filippo Ganna and France’s Paul Seixas.
The women and men competed over the same 39.2km route that started from Avenue du Parc and returned for a scenic and demanding finish at the Jeanne Mance Park
Bäckstedt started strong, Reusser finished stronger
Marlen Reusser powered to her fifth ITT UCI World Championships medal – two gold, two silver, one bronze – thanks to an average speed of 46.660km/hr.
At the first checkpoint, she had the fifth best time, 10 seconds behind Bäckstedt, former ITT UCI World Champion as a Junior (2022) and Under 23 (2025) rider.
“I was expecting that she’d be faster because the first part was quite technical,” Reusser commented after the race. “The course made me really nervous,” she added. “On one hand, I was really looking forward to it because it has so many challenges, with technical aspects that make it much more interesting to ride, but I was really not sure about the pacing. Even on the course I was not 100% sure.”
Her strategy and power saw her claim victory with a time of 50:24.44, just over 40 seconds ahead of Bäckstedt. Koch registered the third best time at every checkpoint and eventually secured bronze. Forty-seven riders representing 33 nations participated in the race.
Evenepoel makes it four
In the Men Elite ITT, Evenepoel was the last of 60 starters (37 nations) beneath the sun of Montréal. Not far ahead of him, Sweden’s Jakob Söderqvist, winner of the Under 23 ITT in 2025, was off to a flying start, but the Belgian three-time and defending Elite UCI World Champion immediately asserted his dominance as he set the best time at every checkpoint.
Evenepoel had enough time to ease off in the final straight and show four fingers to celebrate his fourth triumph as he crossed the line in a time of 44:53.13 (52.4km/h).
“It’s amazing,” the Belgian said. “It was obviously the goal to come and win here for the fourth time in a row. It was a big motivation. I just have to thank the whole team around me for the preparation. It was a very demanding course with the technical start and finish plus a real power part in the middle. I’m super happy. It was a wonderful experience again. It’s a pretty good start to the Worlds.”
Behind him, Söderqvist dropped to fifth place after hitting the deck in a curve. Ganna, ITT UCI World Champion in 2020 and 2021, was runner-up (+57’’), mirroring his results in 2023 and 2024. The precocious Seixas impressed as he took the bronze medal (+1:13) four days before turning 20 years old.