Demi Vollering edges Kasia Niewiadoma to win women's world road race in Montreal
Demi Vollering won the women’s road race world championship in Montreal on 26 September 2026, outsprinting Kasia Niewiadoma after a gruelling circuit to claim the title. The Dutch rider prevailed in a dramatic finish following eight laps of a 13.4km course.
The race, the longest edition of the women’s world road race championship, was contested on a circuit that included the steep Voie Camillien-Houde and inflicted heavy attrition on the peloton. Favourite Paula Blasi abandoned after crashing for a second time, while defending champion and home rider Magdeleine Vallieres crashed with 95km to race — alongside Great Britain’s Flora Perkins and Kim Le Court — and later withdrew with a little over 60km remaining. Vallieres’s departure left the race open to repeated attacks and counterattacks among the leading contenders.
The decisive finale saw the three leading riders from this year’s Tour de France Femmes — Vollering, Kasia Niewiadoma and Italian national champion Elisa Longo Borghini — trade blows on the final lap before an uphill sprint. With fewer than 200m to go the pair were level, but Vollering’s late acceleration proved decisive as Niewiadoma appeared to suffer from cramp. “It was an amazing race and I was very proud to be part of it,” Vollering said. “I worked so hard towards this goal and it takes guts to truly believe. I’m so proud of everybody from the team. They rode the whole race from the front.”
Vollering had launched a long-range move with 40km remaining on the steepest section of road, an attack that threatened to decide the race before the finish but was neutralised with under 20km to go. When her initial attack came, the race looked likely to follow a familiar script of Vollering soloing to success. The Dutch rider was chased by a select group of eight that included Niewiadoma, Marlen Reusser and Longo Borghini, and her solo effort nearly unraveled when she was reeled back.
Reflecting on that phase, Vollering said: “There were so many moments when I thought I’d taken off too early. It was so close. When they came back (to me) I was like ‘Oh shit — this is still not over.’ But never give up until the finish line.” With 20km left the chase group splintered under the impetus of Niewiadoma and Longo Borghini as Vollering, having spent 20km alone at the front, showed signs of fatigue.
The favourites regrouped at the start of the final lap and Longo Borghini launched her own attack, only for Vollering to respond with a decisive move that rewarded the work of the Netherlands team. Longo Borghini held off the pursuing Reusser to take the bronze medal, while Pfeiffer Georgi was the best British finisher in 11th place.
Vollering’s victory secured the world road race title and capped a season in which she also won a second Tour de France title, the Giro women, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Tour of Flanders.