Poland’s Kaja Rusz is one of the riders dropped, which could impact team leader Kasia Niewadoma-Phinney who is one of the top contenders.
Poland started the race with 5 riders.
Peloton is racing to position themselves before the first time up Voie Camillien-Houde
(Image credit: UCI)
Lap 1 of 8
Two riders in the break are: Marte Berg Edseth (Norway) and Natalie Quinn (USA) as they cross the finish line to start the circuit and see 8 laps to go.
They have a lead of 3:31 . Pace is amping up in the peloton as they take on the first lap of the circuit.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Crash. Paula Blasi (Spain) and Anna Hendersen (Great Britain) involved but get quicky back up.
Pace has increased at the front of the peloton as riders being dropped include Georgia Baker (Australia), Olympic champion Kristen Faulkner (USA)
Break now down to 2 riders: Quinn and Edseth have 4:26 with 117.8km to go.
The women are heading towards the 13.4km circuit, which features four key climbs. The first comes soon after the finish line with the Voie Camilien-Houde, a 1.67km ascent averaging 7.4% and reaching a maximum gradient of 10%.
Next is Chemin de la Polytechnique, 790 metres at 6%, including a punishing 200-metre section at 11%. The riders then face Avenue Pagnuelo, a 534-metre climb averaging 7%, topping out around the 9km mark.
The final challenge is a 600-metre drag at 4% up Avenue du Parc to the finish.
It is the same circuit that the previous categories faced on Thursday and Friday. The elite women will tackle the circuit eight times.
(Image credit: UCI)
Stoyanova is falling of the pace in the break while Rosso also seems to be in trouble.
The peloton is using the wide road on the bridge, happy to keep the pace steady, for now.
The four riders in the break – Natalie Quinn (USA), Marte Berg Edseth (Norway), Gergana Stoyanova (Bulgaria) and Beatriz Rosso (Portugal) – have 4:26 on the peloton as they exit the bridge onto the island of Montréal.
Opened in 2015, the Samuel-De Champlain Bridge is 3.2km long, and replaced the old Champlain Bridge which was opened to traffic in 1962.
The new bridge provides a multi-use pathway to pedestrians and cyclists, and three nesting boxes for peregrine falcons are installed along the bridge
Thank you for coming to my Ted talk – back to racing.
Break has 3:37 on the peloton as they head towards the Samuel-De Champlain Bridge, which could lead to more wind.
Behind the Canadian team moved up to line up next to the Dutch team. Spain is also starting to move up.
News from the Cyclingnews team on the ground in Montréal:
Tereza Kurnická of Slovakia is actually a substitute for an injured rider, Nora Jenčušová – she’s the team’s soigneur and hasn’t raced since 2022, except for fun on MTB.
Tereza was apparently terrified of riding in a bunch this big, but she did race Worlds in 2021 as a junior so she’s not a complete novice.
But the countries need to enter riders to keep their qualifications for the coming years.
The same will happen in the men’s field tomorrow. Slovakia is putting a rider in who hasn’t raced in years.
Another crash but the riders went up and riding away very quickly with 131.7km to go.
Meanwhile, the gap to the four riders in the break is now at 2:19 with 140km to go, and the Dutch team is still controlling the front, followed by France.
Tas moved through the team cars and is back in the pack.
After going to her team car, Normand stops to quickly switch one shoe that the mechanic brought to her from the car.
Nicely done. With no team radios, she calmly went to the car to let them, and give time for the mechanic to get her shoe out of her bag in the car.
As the peloton seems happy with the break composition, let’s hear what defending Magdeleine Vallieres Mill had to say at the start this morning.
“It [having the rainbow jersey] changed a lot. I mean, it’s been such an honour this year to be able to wear the jersey and to be able to come back here at home and with the number one with a really good team. So yeah, it’s been super special.
“We’re gonna try [to keep the title]. I think we have, yeah, a super strong team, so we’re gonna give it a go.”
Magdeleine Vallieres Mill, Olivia Baril, Maggie Coles-Lyster, Nadia Gontova, Alison Jackson, Adele Normand, Sarah Van Dam of Team Canada at the start in Brossard (Image credit: Getty Images)
A crash takes down riders on the left side of the road. Riders going down included Adèle Normand (Canada) and Sandrine Tas (Belgium).
Normand gets up quickly and is back on her bike, while Tas had to wait for her mechanic to sort out her bike.
The Dutch team is lined up at the front of the peloton, with some wind impacting the riders, controlling the gap, now up 1:40 to the break.
Another rider tries to jump to the break but the Dutch team reels her back in. They don’t want to let any other rider to join the move.
Four riders made it into the break, initiated by Beatriz Rosso (Portugal) with 162 km to go, and she was joined by Natalie Quinn (USA), Marte Berg Edseth (Norway), and Gergana Stoyanova (Bulgaria).
The quartet have 44 seconds with 154km to go.
Campbell is not giving up, as she attacks once again, and more riders jump on her wheel. But the peloton doesn’t want more riders to join the four riders in the break and Campbell can’t escape.
Tallest rider in the peloton, Teniel Campbell (Trinidad & Tobago) attacks to bridge across and that gets an immediate reaction from Alison Jackson.
Jackson seems to be trying to get into a break and the peloton, led by the Dutch team, shuts that down immediately.
More riders jump from the peloton and make it across the 15-second gap to Rosso. The move includes Natalie Quinn (USA), Marte Berg Edseth (Norway), and Gergana Stoyanova (Bulgaria)
Another attack by Gafinovitz with Antri Christoforou (Cyprus) jumps on, but once again, the move is shut down.
Portugal’s Beatriz Rosso counters solo, and there is no immediate reaction from the peloton
One of the riders trying to come across to the duo was Canada’s Alison Jackson, and the move is nullified.
Greece’s Argyro Milaki and Israel’s Rotem Gafinovitz attack out of a right-hand turn and get a small gap with 166km to go.
Six riders try to come across to the head of the race.
Canada’s Maggie Coles-Lyster and Alison Jackson are at the front and in the middle of the peloton, controlling things for now for their teammate, defending champion Vallieres Mill.
Lots of chatter in the peloton as they roll by fans on the side of the road.
First attack
Mischael Alhazmi from Saudi Arabia is the first attacker but is quickly back in the peloton.
The flag drops, and the race is on after a 4km neutral section. Peloton is spread across the road with the Dutch team massed at the front.
Starting on the South Shore in Brossard, the women head south on an approximately 43km loop through Carignan, Chambly, and Richelieu in the Montérégie region before returning to Brossard and heading to Montréal.
The peloton will then ride the Samuel-De Champlain Bridge towards the Mount Royal circuit which the women will tackle eight times, after having 73km in the legs already. The now-iconic circuit features several major challenges: the Voie Camillien-Houde, the Chemin de la Polytechnique, and the tough false flat rising along Avenue du Parc to the line.
(Image credit: UCI)
The 140 riders representing 57 nations, including new countries of Panama, the Philippines and Saudi Arabia are off.
They will face 2570 metres of elevation gain over the 180.4km course featuring the closing Mount Royal circuit.
(Image credit: UCI)
Three minutes until the start in Brossard – more on the route coming up.
It is sunny in Brossard, with cool temperatures around 12°C, but the day should warm up, as the forecast calls for a high of 23°C in Montréal.
Along with Vallieres, Belgian leader Lotte Kopecky is the only previous World Champion lining up at the start. She won twice before, in Glasgow in 2023 and Zurich in 2024.
Speaking on Friday, Kopecky acknowledged that Demi Vollering stands out as the favourite, but said plenty of other contenders are in the mix.
‘She might well be the woman to beat’ – Lotte Kopecky acknowledges Demi Vollering is top World Championships favourite but points to strong field of contenders
‘If that top day comes, then a lot is possible’ says two-time world champion of her own chances in Montreal
More on Vollering from Laurens ten Dam, the Dutch team coach:
“She is incredibly focused, that’s true. Two days after the Tour de France, I got the first message already from her, ‘OK, job’s not finished’. I was like, ‘OK, she’s on’,” Ten Dam told Cyclingnews on Thursday evening.
‘Job’s not finished’ – Demi Vollering keeping quiet on game plan as she leads Dutch squad at Road World Championships
Two-time Tour de France Femmes winner thrives on responsibility this year as lone team leader for first rainbow reward
Will Dutch racer Demi Vollering finally win a world title today? She lines up as the top favourite, having swept almost all before her this season.
Reigning champion Magdeleine Vallieres of Canada shared her thoughts on social media on the eve of the road race.
Hi. Bonjour. Welcome to our live report on Cyclingnews for the elite women’s road race on the final weekend of the 2026 UCI World Road Championships in Montréal, Canada.
