Results World Championships men's under-23 road race 2026 - Gold for USA incredible Ashlin Barry survives breakaway battle and denies big favourites in victory
CyclingFriday, 25 September 2026 at 19:21
Ashlin Barry is the under-23 world champion after he took a remarkable victory in Montreal, surviving over 120 kilometres as the last rider of the breakaway and holding off the big favourites behind.
With 174 kilometres and 13 laps of the Montreal circuit in store, almost 3500 metres of climbing gave an insight into what to expect for the weekend's elite rainbow jersey races.
An attacking opening two laps saw multiple top nations get involved in trying to establish an early breakaway move. However, things would soon come back together before Slovakia's Samuel Novak got away from the bunch.
He was soon joined by Kristian Egholm, Ashlin Barry, Matthew Dodd and William Heffernan at the front as the five riders quickly grew a gap of over a minute with less than 130 kilometres to go. Crucially, major nations such as Belgium and France weren't represented.
Ireland came to the fore in the next laps, working for leader Adam Rafferty to keep the breakaway in check. However, with less than eight laps to go and 100 kilometres to go, the breakaway's gap grew to over 1:30.
Peloton kicks into gear
The peloton soon kicked off with around 90 kilometres to go as multiple riders and nations attacked from the bunch. In the breakaway, Matthew Dodd also tried to up the pace as he left the other four riders behind on the circuit's main climb.
Pre-race favourite Hector Alvarez found himself out of position at the back of the bunch as the attacks continued and the breakaway's gap began to come down. As Dodd was reeled in with 75 kilometres to go, Egholm found himself just struggling to hold on.
The peloton soon kicked off with around 90 kilometres to go as multiple riders and nations attacked from the bunch
A counter-attacking group formed with over 60 kilometres to go as they broke free and got to less than a minute behind the break. Matteo Scalco, Remi Arsac, Matteo Vanhuffel, Max Bock, Jacob Bush and Jack Ward made up a six-rider group all-in to join the front of affairs.
With four laps to go, Egholm attacked the breakaway as the chasers continued to gain ground, while further chasers tried to break away from the peloton. Only Ashlin Barry bridged across to the Dane as the race approached 50 kilometres to go and the six chasers caught the three riders who were originally with them.
As the race approached its final phase, Barry and Egholm led a chasing pack of nine riders by 30 seconds, with the remainder of the peloton and the attackers from the bunch still chasing behind.
Barry goes solo as race reaches finale
With 47 kilometres to go, third and fourth groups joined the main chasers, forming a new peloton and focal point of the race that included pre-race favourites such as Niels Driesen, Aubin Sparfel, Henrique Bravo, Mateo Ramirez and Matisse van Kercklove, among others.
The big names continued to bubble up behind as the duo out front kept working together. With 30 kilometres to go, Barry went solo, leaving Egholm in his wake as the race approached the final two laps.
Matteo Scalco soon broke off in chase, and was joined by Sparfel, Driesen, Alvarez and Norway's Jasper Stiansen formed a heavyweight chase behind as Barry held his lead at around 30 seconds throughout much of the penultimate lap.
The race hit its final lap as Barry began to dream of a rainbow jersey, boasting an impressive 40-second gap over the five chasers as a box-office final climb and lap beckoned.
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Barry lost a few seconds on the climb, but the chasers continued to size eachother up while the Visma | Lease a Bike rider continued to drive on. As the kilometres rolled by, Barry found himself boasting 40 seconds of a gap over the quintet with six kilometres to go.
With two kilometres to go it was all clear. Despite Sparfel and Driesen attacks, the USA rider was destined to take the win as the rest fought for silver. As Barry crossed the finish line following over 120 kilometres out front, he becomes the first rider from the US to win this race.
Hector Alvarez took second while Stiensen rounded out the podium in third place.
Results World Championships men's under-23 road race 2026
Carlos Silva is a writer for CyclingUpToDate.com, where he contributes race reports, interviews, analysis pieces, and live coverage of the international cycling calendar. Holding a degree in Sports from the Jean Piaget Institute, he combines academic knowledge of performance, training, and competition with hands-on journalism experience in professional cycling.
Throughout his career, Carlos has conducted interviews with leading figures in the sport, including Alberto Contador, Joaquim Rodríguez, Óscar Pereiro, João Almeida, Isaac del Toro, Derek Gee, John Degenkolb and Geraint Thomas. These conversations reflect direct engagement with Grand Tour winners, Classics specialists, and emerging talents.
He has provided on-site coverage at major events ranging from the Vuelta a España to the Tour de France, alongside stage races such as Vuelta a Andalucía, Volta ao Algarve, Volta a Portugal and O Gran Camiño. Covering the mythical climbs of the Giro d'Italia remains one of his professional ambitions.
Carlos is responsible for liveblog coverage of all major WorldTour races and beyond, including the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España. His reporting integrates verified data from ProCyclingStats to ensure statistical accuracy, contextual depth, and analytical precision.
A lifelong cycling enthusiast, he approaches storytelling across written, photographic, and video formats with a focus on credibility, tactical insight, and informed race interpretation.
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- If the three races thathave taken place already give any insight, it is that the circuit does nit reward the climbers as well as the metres suggest. 97.3 m of climbing per lap is from the three short climbs on which no-one can really be out into major difficulties. That amounts to 1264 m of climbing. The remainder of around 2313 m isn't as hard as it sounds
Rafionain-Glas25-09-2026 - Looking forward to a great weekend of racing. Haven’t been following much lately but for all the talk there was of interest from other teams in Seixas, it seems awfully quiet. Did I miss something or was it all media buzz making attempts?Mistermaumau25-09-2026
- Always nice when someone making the effort wins. CongratulationsMistermaumau25-09-2026
- I think it looks far faster than it actually was, judging by the bike behind he may have been close to 100km/h but it was a dead straight wide stretch. I’ve seen whole convoys of cars passing at such speeds near downhills when the peloton is at full speed and they still have problems not being in riders’ ways. The speed of the caravan at the Tour sometimes when it passes just inches from spectators is far scarier. For me there are just too many vehicles in races.Mistermaumau25-09-2026
- I think the issue with van der Poel, Van Aert, Evenepoel, and Simmons may just be the weight. Some of them are likely too heavy for this amount of climbing - yes, Van Aert has won some major climbs, but that's in a GT setting with more than one race going on at a time and major climbers part of the GC race behind him. None of them has won in Montreal or Il Lombardia. Simmons was great at Il Lombardia not too long ago, but ran out of energy. They all have the goods to win, as do several others. It's just that del Toro and Seixas were the ones who got away 2 weeks ago, they climb, and del Toro sprints. I make no predications, I'm just really excited for what I hope is a great race!RidesHills25-09-2026
- The U23 race was a big warning for the elite race. It's different to Montreal where UAE can control. It is hard to read, and the riders in front has a big advantage simply by being in front. A repeat, with van der Poel, van Aert or God forbid Quinn Simmons, would not be surprising.Rafionain-Glas25-09-2026
- If I remember correctly he was angry at Madous for not giving enough, and so he dropped him but he'd have done that anywayRafionain-Glas25-09-2026
- Christian van de Velde described Ashlin Barry, who he knows very well, as like a U23 Wout van Aert, who does track instead of CX. 19.2 dm tall and 770 hg, he is quite similar to Wally, and this was less the favourites having got it wrong but more him having got it right. Chapeau!Rafionain-Glas25-09-2026
- What a clear win, well executed attacks, and enough endurance to make it to the end. Alvarez was angry at the end, winning the sprint for second, but not having timed his attacks well enough along the way. Congratulations, Ashlin Barry!RidesHills25-09-2026
- this is crazy driving. this is how cyclists diemij25-09-2026
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