Tadej Pogačar did not win the Grand Prix of Montréal, but nonetheless experienced an excellent rehearsal for the 2025 and 2026 Road World Championships. He handed the victory to his American teammate Brandon McNulty, with whom he remained alone in the final kilometers after a race dominated from start to finish by UAE Emirates XRG. Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) was the best of the rest at a respectable distance.
The Grand Prix de Montréal was even more interesting than usual this year. Not only did world champion Tadej Pogačar start as the clear favorite for this race again, it also served as the rehearsal for the 2026 Road World Championships, which will take place in the Canadian city on almost the same course. But who could challenge Pogačar on this tough Montréal circuit on Sunday?
The GP de Montréal is a circuit through the Canadian city of Montréal featuring several climbs, identical to last season. The riders had to complete the now-familiar 12.3-kilometer circuit no less than 17 times, with 269 meters of elevation gain per lap. This resulted in a total of 209.1 kilometers and 4,573 meters of climbing, with the Côte Camillien-Houde (1.8 km at 8%) and the Côte de Polytechnique (780 meters at 6%) as the main selective sections.
Two Dutch riders in the break
Ide Schelling started with both feet already in the pedals, attacking from the start. The rider from The Hague, on his farewell tour with Astana, tried to get into the day's lead group but didn't manage it. However, two fellow Dutchmen, Frank van den Broek (Picnic PostNL) and Pascal Eenkhoorn (Soudal-Quick Step), did succeed in making the break.
They were joined by Jørgen Nordhagen (Visma | Lease a Bike), Embret Svestad-Bårdseng (Arkea-B&B Hotels), Victor Lafay (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), and the INEOS Grenadiers tandem Andrew August-Artem Shmidt. Eenkhoorn was the weakest of the group of seven. Several times he lost contact on the climbs. Additionally, he crashed in an unfortunate manner.
This happened after the break had extended. The initial group of seven eventually grew to sixteen. After around seventy kilometers, a strong group of counter-attacking riders joined forces. Laurence Pithie, Jan Tratnik (both Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Marius Mayrhofer (Tudor), Alex Baudin, Harry Sweeny (EF Education-EasyPost), Fredrik Dversnes (Uno-X Mobility), Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla), and Lewis Askey (Groupama-FDJ) eventually linked up with the leaders.
Pogačar divides and conquers
Behind them, riders began dropping out of the Canadian race as usual. One by one, they felt their legs fill and gave up. Big names like Biniam Girmay, Christophe Laporte, Michael Matthews, Wout van Aert, and Florian Lipowitz had to let go one after another. Even the winner of the Grand Prix of Québec, Julian Alaphilippe, would not finish the race. This was all a result of the demolition work done by UAE Emirates XRG in support of Tadej Pogačar.
With just under seventy kilometers to go, the last escapees were caught. Then it was a matter of waiting for the moment when Tadej Pogačar would decide to attack. That moment took a little longer, as first Pavel Sivakov had to lead the peloton for a few laps.
Brandon McNulty on the move with Quinn Simmons - photo: Cor Vos
When Sivakov finally launched an attack three laps from the finish, Brandon McNulty was the first to accelerate. He was joined by Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek). Louis Barré (Intermarché-Wanty) tried to bridge across, but it was the world champion himself who managed to get there first. In the end, the four of them stayed away.
They stayed together for almost a full lap, but 23.3 kilometers from the finish—at the spot where Pogačar had attacked a year earlier—Barré dropped back and Pogačar accelerated. However, unlike the previous year, this was not a solo ride to the finish. Pogačar decided to wait for McNulty, who then left Simmons behind. Pogačar played the perfect domestique for McNulty.
And that’s 85!
The Slovenian worked hard at the front for his teammate and let him lead out in the final meters. This was preceded by a heartfelt embrace just before the finish line. The team’s success was surely a reason to celebrate. Not only did UAE Emirates XRG take a one-two, McNulty also secured the team’s 85th victory. This matched the record number of wins set by HTC-High Road in 2009.
Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal| Rank | Rider | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 05:14:04 | |
| 2 | " | |
| 3 | + 01:03 | |
| 4 | + 01:45 | |
| 5 | + 01:49 | |
| 6 | + 02:00 | |
| 7 | + 02:25 | |
| 8 | + 02:57 | |
| 9 | + 02:59 | |
| 10 | " |
