Pidcock and Backstedt lead Britain at Montreal Worlds
Tom Pidcock and Zoe Backstedt will lead Great Britain at the 2026 Road World Championships in Montreal.
The championships run from 20 to 27 September in Canada, with live coverage across the BBC, organisers confirmed BBC. Pidcock heads the elite men's road race squad. Backstedt steps up as a contender in the elite women's events.
Pidcock will be supported by eight riders in the men's road race. The squad is Mark Donovan, Ethan Hayter, Oscar Onley, Finlay Pickering, Pidcock, James Shaw, Callum Thornley, Fred Wright and Adam Yates.
The road race is the mass-start event. The peloton — the main pack of riders — races together over a long course, with the first across the line taking the rainbow jersey.
Britain's elite women's squad is Backstedt, Lauren Dickson, Pfeiffer Georgi, Anna Henderson, Anna Morris, Flora Perkins and Alice Towers. Backstedt won last year's Under-23 road race and now moves into the elite category.
The time trials open the week. That is the solo race against the clock, rider by rider, fastest time wins. Backstedt will race the women's event for Britain. Henderson, the Paris 2024 Olympic silver medallist in the discipline, is also in the squad.
Hayter will carry British hopes in the men's time trial. He arrives in form. He finished just nine hundredths of a second behind Tadej Pogacar in the opening time trial of the recent Vuelta a Espana. Belgium's Remco Evenepoel is the defending men's time trial world champion.
There will be a new men's road race champion this year. Pogacar, winner in 2024 and 2025, will miss the rest of the season after suffering multiple injuries in a crash at the Vuelta.
What makes this stand out for fans is the openness. No Pogacar at the start line. A sharp time trial battle on day one. And two British leaders at very different points in their careers.
The schedule is set in British time. The women's time trial is on 20 September from 14:00 to 16:45 BST. The men's time trial follows the same day from 17:30 to 20:45. The women's road race is on 26 September from 14:00 to 19:30. The men's road race closes the championships on 27 September from 14:00 to 21:00.
