Remco Evenepoel crushes 2026 World Championships time trial as Ganna & Seixas complete Montréal podium

Remco Evenepoel won a fourth World Championships individual time trial title with a dominant performance in Montréal, beating Filippo Ganna by 57 seconds as Paul Seixas completed the podium for France.

The Belgian was fastest at every intermediate checkpoint on the 39.2km course and continued to increase his advantage throughout the race, eventually stopping the clock at 44:53.13. Ganna finished in 45:50.44, while Seixas took bronze at 1:13.

Brandon McNulty finished fourth for the United States, one place ahead of Jakob Söderqvist after the Swedish rider crashed while fighting for the medals. Isaac del Toro was sixth, with Stefan Küng seventh.

How it unfolded

The opening riders faced a technical but predominantly fast 39.2km course through Montréal, with the route taking them towards the St Lawrence River and Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve before returning towards Parc Jeanne-Mance.

The early benchmarks changed quickly. Byron Munton was one of the first riders to establish a competitive time, finishing in 47:37.44 after setting the pace through the opening checkpoints.

Jasha Sütterlin then moved to the top of the standings with 47:04.01, but the German’s spell in the lead was short-lived as the stronger late starters began to reach the final sections of the course.

Kasper Asgreen was the first rider to push the winning time towards the 46-minute range. The Dane had already moved ahead through the intermediate checkpoints before reaching the finish in 46:41.67.

Michael Leonard had started quickly and briefly threatened Asgreen’s benchmark, but faded slightly through the third section before finishing in 47:02.78.

Seixas raises the standard

Paul Seixas provided the first indication of what would be required to reach the podium. The Frenchman moved ahead of Asgreen at the second checkpoint and maintained his pace through the final part of the course.

He reached the finish in 46:06.17, taking 35 seconds out of Asgreen and establishing a time that remained good enough for a medal once all 61 riders had completed their efforts.

Brandon McNulty came closest among the riders immediately behind him. The American improved as the race developed and eventually finished fourth, 1:25 behind Evenepoel.

Söderqvist appeared capable of going faster still. The Swede had moved five seconds ahead of Seixas at the third intermediate checkpoint and was riding towards a potential medal when his race changed suddenly.

Söderqvist crashes while fighting for the podium

Söderqvist carried too much speed into a corner and went down while holding the fastest time on the road. He was able to remount immediately, but the incident cost him the advantage he had built over Seixas.

He reached the finish in 46:19.31. That initially placed him among the leading riders but ultimately left him fifth, 13 seconds behind Seixas and only around a second behind McNulty.

It was a costly mistake on a day when the margins behind the eventual winner were far tighter than the gap at the front suggested.

Evenepoel takes control from the first checkpoint

Evenepoel was the final rider to start and wasted almost no time in establishing control of the race.

He reached the first checkpoint in 12:17.63, nine seconds faster than Söderqvist. Ganna, Küng and Del Toro were already around 22 seconds behind the Belgian at that stage.

The advantage grew considerably through the middle of the course. By the second checkpoint Evenepoel was 34 seconds clear of the next fastest rider, while Ganna was already around 40 seconds behind and Küng had lost 56 seconds.

There was no sign of Evenepoel easing his effort as the course moved towards its final section. He reached the third checkpoint in 33:49.87, with Ganna 48 seconds slower.

Evenepoel was seen looking down towards his bike several times during the closing kilometres, but whatever prompted those glances did not have any noticeable effect on his pace.

Ganna takes silver as Evenepoel finishes the job

Ganna was the last rider capable of changing the podium. The Italian accelerated strongly towards the finish and stopped the clock at 45:50.44, moving ahead of Seixas and guaranteeing himself silver.

Evenepoel was still on the course and already held close to a minute in hand.

He crossed the line in 44:53.13 to win by 57 seconds, completing one of the most decisive World Championships time trial performances of his career.

Seixas retained third at 1:13, giving the Frenchman a World Championships medal after spending much of the finale watching successive specialists try to remove him from the podium.

McNulty finished fourth at 1:25, with Söderqvist another second back in fifth despite his crash. Del Toro took sixth at 1:38 ahead of Küng, Asgreen, Daan Hoole and Callum Thornley.

Evenepoel wins fourth World Championships time trial title

The result gave Evenepoel a fourth elite World Championships title against the clock and extended his run of victories in the discipline.

More revealing than the final margin was how quickly the race moved beyond the reach of his rivals. Söderqvist and Seixas had produced excellent rides before Evenepoel started, while Montréal offered Ganna the long, fast course that suited his strengths.

None of them were able to stay close once Evenepoel began setting the intermediate times.

Ganna limited some of the damage over the final section, but the race had already been decided. Evenepoel’s advantage had grown from nine seconds at the first checkpoint to 48 seconds over Ganna by the third, and he still added more time before the finish.

For Seixas, bronze provided another indication of his progress at elite level, while Söderqvist was left with the clearest sense of what might have been after being ahead of the Frenchman shortly before his crash.

Men’s World Championships time trial 2026 result

Main photo credit: Getty