Pogačar's revs up bid for Triple Crown in Canada as Montréal keeps an eye on the future and the 2026 World Championships
2022 GP Québec champion Tadej Pogačar returns to Canada this week as he prepares to battle for the rainbow jersey at the Road World Championships(Image credit: Getty Images)
Due to the earlier UCI Road World Championships in 2023 as part of the UCI’s ‘super worlds’ in Scotland, the GP Québec and GP Montréal were rid of their spot as the usual perfect final tune-up race in anticipation of the battle for the rainbow bands.
But in 2024, they will once again, as they had done since their inception in 2010, serve as one of the final WorldTour races before the World Championships, this year in Zürich, where the likes of Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), Mathieu van der Poel and Remco Evenepoel will all vie for glory.
Only one of them is present in Canada, Pogačar, who has had success previously at the 2022 GP Montréal, and they will be his first two races back since dominating the Tour de France and completing the elusive Giro d’Italia-Tour double for the first time since 1998.
He may have arrived in Canada later than expected with some travel documentation issues, but the best rider in the world was present for press conferences on Wednesday where both international and local media flocked to hear his thoughts on the races. He's aiming at victory at both with Montréal more suited to his characteristics but his influence is bigger than just his results.
Pogačar is also far from the only star present in Quebec, with riders like Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) looking to carry their Tour de France successes into the later stages of the season or Arnaud De Lie and Michael Matthews hoping to repeat their previous successes at the Quebecois events.
Riders arrived from Paris on Tuesday morning, with a new winner very possibly coming in the form of one of Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike), Maxim Van Gils (Lotto Dstny), Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) or Stevie Williams (Israel-Premier Tech). The racing should be intense and the winners worthy.
With the 13th editions of the races approaching on Friday, September 13 in Québec and Sunday, September 15 in Montréal, Cyclingnews looks ahead at some of the key storylines to follow.
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Tadej Pogačar’s return to racing before triple crown attempt
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) is back on the road again in Canada (Image credit: Getty Images)
Any race that Tadej Pogačar lines up at is a big one, with that being exactly the case in Canada this season. It's not only the first chance to see how the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France champion is feeling in his first race back but also an opportunity to see his shape ahead of the Road World Championships in Zürich, where he will be a favourite to take the rainbow jersey and join Eddy Merckx and Stephen Roche as 'Triple Crown' winners.
The Slovenian has been more dominant than ever in 2024 with a new approach and coach. However, he's barely raced the one-day races, taking in only three so far. This did result in two wins and a third place at some of the hardest races of the season – Strade Bianche, Milan-San Remo and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. However, his form at the moment really is unknown.
He's already netted more wins than any rider this season with 21 but that could well be 23 by the end of the weekend if his stunning show of strength at the Tour is anything to go off. Glory on Sunday in Montréal – a race he's won before – is looking more likely than Québec.
Pogačar will certainly give Friday's race a good crack if at least to get the legs moving back in race rhythm ahead of worlds, and he isn't to be discounted if it does come down to a sprint on the dragging finish. What's more important though, is that Pogačar is well and truly back and eager to be racing again.
A return to a pre-Worlds form marker
The elite men's road race at the UCI Cycling World Championships in Glasgow in 2023 (Image credit: Getty Images)
As discussed, with the Road World Championships returning to its February slot, the Quebecois races are once again a perfect indicator of form for the World Championships coming later in September.
This is why Pogačar is here, as is the same for his teammate Tim Wellens, who alongside Tiesj Benoot (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Van Gils, will be looking to aid Remco Evenepoel in Zürich for Belgium against the flying Slovenian.
Of the two, Québec has proved the better indicator of who might win the Worlds, doing so twice in 2016 and 2017 when Peter Sagan came and won the races ahead of claiming his rainbow jerseys, and similarly for Philippe Gilbert in 2011 when he enjoyed one of cycling's best ever seasons before becoming the world champion.
With such a brutally hilly course awaiting the riders in Zurich, however, Montréal's 17 laps and over 4,000m of elevation gain looks like it will be the more accurate guide of form heading into Switzerland, where a similarly rough parcours of laps around Zürich should see the climbers battle out the win.
Can Pogačar make more history and become the first rider to win the GP Montréal and world title in the same season?
Biniam Girmay looks to carry Tour de France success on in Canada
Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) speaks to the world's media before the racing begins in Canada (Image credit: Getty Images)
Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) is currently still experiencing the best season of his career to date after claiming a trio of stage wins at the Tour de France and the green jersey to boot. But it's not over just yet as he continues his charge in Canada.
He's fresh off a rebuild of form at the Renewi Tour and a third-place finish at the Bemer Cyclassics, with the Tour, Olympics and part of the Giro all in his legs. But the course in Québec should be ideal for the Eritrean should he be delivered onto the finishing straight in a half-decent position.
Girmay has established himself as the punchy sprinter to beat, able to survive lots of elevation gain before still unleashing enough watts to outsprint some of the top riders. And Firday's race seems to play into those strengths, where he will be one of the favourites should he make it through the attacking waves unscathed.
It's been a historic year for Girmay and for African cycling and there would be more to celebrate should Girmay win Friday's race in Québec. It's something no African rider has ever managed and it would be a perfect way to end his WorldTour calendar this season.
Arnaud De Lie returns to site of first WorldTour success
Arnaud De Lie (Lotto-Dstny) celebrating his debut WorldTour win at the GP Québec win last year (Image credit: Getty Images)
For Arnaud De Lie, Québec will always be a special place having taken his first WorldTour win there last season, with a muscular sprint from a poor position seeing him scorch to the perfect debut in Canada.
Anything less than repeating it will be a disappointment for De Lie, who will this time out be competing in the Belgian champion's jersey, with a final bunch sprint suiting him after all the climbing.
Girmay and Pogačar will probably be among his biggest competitors but unlike last year when he was searching for that first WorldTour-level victory, he's got more wins under his belt and will be a watched rider. Especially, after taking his second top-division win in the Renewi Tour with a stunning display in on the final stage at the Muur van Geraardsbergen.
No one will want to go to the finish with De Lie in Québec, knowing how he wouldn't need much road at all to power up to full speed and reel someone back in. If the 22-year-old is in his top shape, he'll be incredibly hard to stop – even for the likes of Pogačar.
The 2026 Worlds continues to draw closer for Montréal
Looking ahead to a 2026 Road World Championships (Image credit: Getty Images)
With this year serving as both the 50th anniversary of Worlds in Montréal when Eddy Merckx and Geneviève Gambillon took the first titles outside of Europe, it's also one of the three final dress rehearsals on the brutally tough Montréal course before the fight for the rainbow bands returns to the big city in 2026.
The WorldTour race's course around Mount Royal Park in Montréal is likely to form the large majority of the 2026 Worlds course. The park has already been set in history thanks to the Cannibal's triumph in 1974, Bernt Johannson's victory in the 1976 Olympics and the one-day race's success. In two years, it will once again provide the perfect arena for the world's best to battle for rainbows.
As the likes of Pogačar and Julian Alaphilippe do battle on the brutally tough course this Sunday, there will certainly be an eye on the future and a thought ahead to what kind of action will take place in a year's time.
Cycling in Canada should be at its pinnacle after Autumn in 2026, with the GP de Québec, GP de Montréal and the Worlds all arriving within a four-week period and providing the perfect launchpad for the sport to explode.
James Moultrie is a gold-standard NCTJ journalist who joined Cyclingnews as a News Writer in 2023 after originally contributing as a freelancer for eight months, during which time he also wrote for Eurosport, Rouleur and Cycling Weekly. Prior to joining the team he reported on races such as Paris-Roubaix and the Giro d’Italia Donne for Eurosport and has interviewed some of the sport’s top riders in Chloé Dygert, Lizzie Deignan and Wout van Aert. Outside of cycling, he spends the majority of his time watching other sports – rugby, football, cricket, and American Football to name a few.
