The 2026 UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships finished on Monday after four memorable days of action in Huntsville, Alabama (USA). In total, 26 time trials, 26 road races and a mixed H1-5 team relay were raced in high heat and humidity. Seven para cyclists recorded a time trial ─ road race double.
A French masterclass
Two of those seven were French, part of the team that topped the medal table with 15 gold, eight silver and six bronze, 29 medals in all. The USA and China shared second place, each with six golds and 17 medals total, while Great Britain came fourth on three golds and 10 total medals.
France's Alexandre Léauté completed a remarkable comeback, winning both the MC2 time trial and road race, beating compatriot Arthur Bauchet each time. An injury on 17 April had ruled him out of June's UEC European Championships, yet just five months on he returned to claim his 26th and 27th individual UCI World Championship titles.
Compatriot Florian Jouanny, a three-time Paralympic gold medallist, won both races in the MH2 sport class. In the 14.6km time trial on Friday, the 34-year-old was dominant from the outset, covering the course in 22:44.98 to beat Italy's Luca Mazzone, himself a three-time Paralympic gold medallist, by nearly 18 seconds.
The road race told a very different story. Over 55.2km on Sunday, Jouanny, Mazzone and the USA's Cody Wills formed the lead trio and stayed together into the closing stages, before Wills was distanced. Jouanny then beat Mazzone in the sprint by the narrowest of margins, so much so that the pair was given the same time of 1:29:08, with Wills taking bronze 18 seconds back.
Double delight for the USA
America’s Katerina Brim enjoyed a memorable Championships on home soil, winning the WH2 time trial before dominating the 27.6km road race, beating second-placed Roberta Amadeo of Italy by 16 minutes. The UCI World Championship titles were the fifth and sixth of her career – a feat she reflected on afterwards on Instagram.
“The past few years have brought obstacles, setbacks, fears and moments that made me question myself in ways I never expected,” Brim wrote. “Standing on that start line meant facing not only the course in front of me, but also a lot of the things I’ve been fighting within myself… I’m incredibly proud of the athlete I am becoming, but even more proud of the person who kept going to get here.”
Samantha Bosco mirrored her teammate by winning the WC4 time trial and then the road race for the seventh UCI world title of her illustrious career. Bosco, the reigning Paralympic Champion in the time trial, stormed Saturday's 29.2km race, beating Australia's Tara Neyland by over 45 seconds, saying afterwards: “Sometimes things don’t need words, efforts and feelings working together to turn off your brain’s ability to make them form. (Or maybe that’s the heat!) Yesterday still feels like a dream, only proven real by waking up wearing the rainbow jersey. I spent today volleying between prepping for tomorrow’s road race and sitting in the overwhelming love and support of all of you.”
The prep and support paid off, with Bosco winning Monday's 69km road race, though it proved a much closer affair. On the final lap of five, she launched attack after attack but couldn't shake off Neyland, and it came down to a sprint that Bosco edged.
A third straight double for Haenen
For the third successive year, Dutch rider Chantal Haenen (WH5) won the time trial and road race double, confirming her as one of the leading handcyclists of her generation. The 29-year-old opened her Championships with a dominant time trial on Friday, winning in 22:45.97, almost two minutes ahead of China's Bianbian Sun. She was even more dominant in the 55.2km road race, crossing the line in 1:30:40 to finish more than 12 minutes ahead of Sun.
Xiaomei Wang was in stunning form in Huntsville, winning both WC3 races. The Chinese rider had come in on the back of a strong season, having won all three of this year’s UCI Para cycling Road World Cup road races, and her two victories took her career tally to 11 UCI world titles, including four on the road. The 26-year-old is also a Paralympic Champion, having won gold in the C1-3 individual pursuit at Paris 2024.
Eighteen-year-old Marjona Pardaboyeva announced herself with a breakthrough double, winning both the WT1 time trial and road race. On Friday, the Uzbek rider beat Czechia's Pavlína Vejvodová by nearly 18 seconds over the 14.6km circuit. She then dominated Sunday's 27.6km road race, winning by nearly two minutes over China's Shiqi Quan.
Pardaboyeva's rise to the top has been rapid. She made her UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships debut in 2024, finishing sixth in both events, before taking two silver medals a year later in Ronse, Belgium. She also won the road race at the 2025 Asian Para-cycling Championships.
Harkowska's long-awaited return
Among the other standout stories, Poland's Anna Harkowska won the WC5 road race after a long wait for gold. “This is such a joy, I can't believe it,” she said after the race. “Everything turned out exactly as I dreamed. I’ve never won a gold medal in a mass start. My last gold medal was nine years ago in a time trial [at the 2017 UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa].”
A landmark victory, too, for Callum Russell in the MH4 road race. It was not only the 30-year-old's first UCI world title, but also the first handcycling rainbow jersey won by a British man.
France seals the relay
France brought the curtain down on a dominant Championships by winning the mixed H1-5 team relay with Johan Quaile, Anaïs Vincent and Joseph Fritsch. The French team finished 43 seconds clear of the USA, with Australia third.