Women’s sports is on the up in longest‑ever women’s world road race

MONTREAL, Canada Sept. 26 - The Women Elite Road Race of the 2026 Union Cycliste Internationale Road World Championships started its longest race in history, covering 180.4 kilometres after the Union Cycliste Internationale changed its rules.  

The championships ran for eight days from Sept. 20 to Sept. 27, in Montréal, Canada, featuring 13 separate races. 

After raising the maximum distance for elite women’s world championship and Olympic road races from 160 km to 180 km, this year’s event has become the longest Women's World Road Cycling Championships since the women elite race was first introduced in 1958.

The eight-lap course in Mount Royal circuit had passed through Côte de la Polytechnique with a gradient of over 11% and finished at the uphill of Avenue du Parc. In the final laps, the women's elite riders have to climb roughly 2,150 of the 2,570 metres total, testing riders' endurance.

Around 141 riders have joined the Women Elite Road Race on Sept. 26. Demi Vollering from the Netherlands won the championship, beating Katarzyna Niewiadoma in the race, while Elisa Longo Borghini took bronze.

Amanda Spratt, an Australian 39-year-old rider, finished 39th, said her strategy to the added kilometres was to conserve energy from the very start by eating and drinking constantly.

“I think it is not very hard with the distance in the legs and when you were just doing the climb once,”Spratt said. 

“But it was definitely difficult for the last two laps, after making so much distance and laps,”she added.

Spratt considered it a fun race, despite hours of racing and the punishing laps of Mount Royal.

“It was a hard race, but giving up is not really in my DNA.” she said.

Around 500,000 audiences arrived at the Avenue du Parc for the eight-day competition. Sean Zimmer, a member of Dad Cycling Network, flew from New York to Montreal watching the races, said he was excited to see so many attacks in the women’s racing.

 “I think it's really cool that the UCI finally gave them more kilometers to race. I always talk about how it would be cool that the women have more stages in the Tour de France,” Zimmer said. 

The 2026 Women Elite Road Race has about 40 more participants than last year in Kigali. Female rider participation is also on the rise. Strava data shows a 60% increase in the number of women completing their first 100km ride in the 2026 women's Tour de France.

Ally Dandy, 28, from Toronto, Canada said the climbs in the women's races are demanding.

“The climbs and added distance were super intense and knowing that you had to do it again and again and again, it's not like you could do it once,” Dandy said.

“I think women’s sport is on the up and up. And I think we saw that today with how many people are here, women can do it just as much as the men can. So it’s awesome to see so much support that they can do it.”

“Women are powerful!” Dandy said.

This year women’s race shares the same Mont Royal circuit as the men, according to the 2026 Montréal organising committee, marking its change for women’s elite cycling in the industry.