“Will he have the legs to go 250 kilometres-plus?” - Chris Horner questions what Remco Evenepoel’s record-breaking Worlds TT really means for road race hopes

Remco Evenepoel could hardly have opened his World Championships week more convincingly. The Belgian stormed to a fourth consecutive elite time trial rainbow jersey in Montreal, stopping the clock in 44:53 and putting 57 seconds into Filippo Ganna after 39.2 kilometres.

Chris Horner was suitably impressed. The former Vuelta a Espana winner picked apart Evenepoel’s ride on his YouTube channel and found very little to criticise.

“Other than that, he was skimming the corners as tight as he possibly could, putting out brilliant power,” Horner said after identifying one slightly wide U-turn as perhaps the only notable error in 39.2 kilometres.

Evenepoel even had time to sit up before the line and perform his trademark celebration, having averaged 52.4km/h across the Montreal course. For Horner, though, Sunday’s road race remains far less straightforward. “Will he have the legs to go 250 kilometres-plus on the Montreal course?”

Evenepoel’s final two road races before the Worlds produced two very different performances. He won the GP Quebec in impressive fashion before travelling to Montreal, where Isaac Del Toro and Paul Seixas escaped on the final lap and Evenepoel eventually finished fifth.

“What’s more of a telltale sign for me is, of course, Montreal and the Quebec race that they had a weekend ago,” Horner said. “We know for sure at Quebec that Remco’s really good and we know he fell apart at Montreal and wasn’t as solid there when he’s going up the climb.”

The elite road race will return to those same Mount Royal roads on Sunday, but only after a much longer day. The 273.7-kilometre route includes 3,803 metres of climbing and 12 laps of the finishing circuit around Montreal.

Evenepoel’s dominance in the TT did little to change Horner’s view of what happened eight days earlier. “We all expected Remco Evenepoel to win yesterday’s men’s World Championships time trial, which of course he did,” he said. “We expect that. So it doesn’t give us a whole lot of look into the peephole future there that Remco Evenepoel showed us at the finish of the individual time trial, of what it might mean going into the road race.”

Horner drew on his own career when separating the two disciplines. “Back in my day when I was racing, I always knew I was going to lose time in the time trials and sometimes I won them. If I was on very, very good form, that means I could time trial well too," he recalled. “But it’s the opposite for time trial specialists. They’re always winning the time trials, but then they have to be on very, very good form to win in the road race.”

Evenepoel has now won four consecutive world time trial titles, adding Montreal to Glasgow, Zurich and Kigali. His road results over the same period have included the 2022 world title and second place behind Tadej Pogacar last year.

Evenepoel also arrived at the 2025 Worlds road race with a dominant time trial victory already secured. Pogacar attacked from more than 100 kilometres out in Kigali, while Evenepoel went through a difficult spell further back and initially lost contact with several of the riders attempting to respond.

“He won the individual time trial championships, right? But then could not follow Tadej Pogacar or multiple riders that were trying to follow Tadej Pogacar,” Horner recalled. “We’re talking about 100-plus kilometres to go at the Rwanda men’s road World Championships.”

Belgium helped Evenepoel back into contention and he eventually emerged as Pogacar’s closest challenger, taking silver 1:28 behind the Slovenian. “Yes, he caught back on later with some help of his teammates. Yes, he put on a magnificent display later of chasing Tadej Pogacar,” Horner continued. “But he did not go through the men’s road World Championships without having a major hiccup in his form and blowing up a little bit like we’ve seen in years past.”

There will be no Pogacar in Montreal after his season was ended by his Vuelta a Espana crash, while Evenepoel enters the road race having already shown far better legs than he did when finishing fifth at the GP Montreal.

Horner nevertheless stopped well short of downgrading the Belgian’s chances. “Going into the Montreal men’s road race, I have him as the outright favourite,” he said. “I do not doubt that at all.”

Paul Seixas reinforced his Montreal credentials in the time trial too. The 19-year-old followed his second place behind Del Toro at the GP Montreal by taking bronze against the clock, finishing 1:13 behind Evenepoel and 15 seconds behind Ganna.

“Paul Seixas, the French rider, did what shows us that he is definitely on good form when he’s only losing a minute and 13 seconds to Remco Evenepoel when it’s all said and done,” Horner said.

Jakob Soderqvist had been on course to challenge for the medals before crashing with fewer than three kilometres remaining, eventually finishing fifth behind Brandon McNulty.

Del Toro also placed inside the top 10, although his deficit to Evenepoel was considerably larger than Seixas’. “You look and go, okay, Isaac Del Toro lost a lot of time, over a minute of time to Remco Evenepoel, and we’re talking solid loss,” Horner said. “But Isaac Del Toro is not a time trial specialist.”

Del Toro and Seixas will return on Sunday to the circuit where they dropped the rest of the GP Montreal field little more than a week earlier. Belgium, meanwhile, have another major option alongside Evenepoel. Wout van Aert heads to the start after winning two stages and the green jersey at the Vuelta a Espana, while Tiesj Benoot, Maxim Van Gils, Thibau Nys, Quinten Hermans, Alec Segaert and Gianni Vermeersch complete a powerful eight-man selection.

“Team Belgium are going to have to play their tactics correctly,” Horner said. “Keep an eye out whether or not Wout van Aert and Remco Evenepoel are going to play nice together, which I expect they will, but is one going to be willing to jump a little bit earlier than the other?”

Evenepoel has already left Montreal with one rainbow jersey secured. On Sunday he returns to Mount Royal alongside the two riders who beat him there at the GP Montreal, with Van Aert beside him and another 273.7 kilometres between the start line and a possible second world title.