The road World Championships are the biggest one-day prize in cycling, and the winner earns the right to wear the rainbow jersey for a full year. In 2026 the race comes to Montréal, the first road Worlds in North America since Richmond in 2015, on the tough Mont Royal circuit used by the city's WorldTour Classic. The men race twelve laps and around 274 kilometres, climbing the Côte Camillien-Houde and a second steep ramp every time around, a course that suits punchy classics riders and climbers. Alfredo Binda, Eddy Merckx and Peter Sagan share the record with three titles each, and Sagan's three in a row from 2015 to 2017 may be the hardest record in the sport to repeat. National teams race here instead of trade teams, which makes the tactics unlike anything else all year. A rainbow jersey changes a career.