Fifth is not a disaster. Evenepoel knew what it would look like anyway.

“You’re probably going to make me the worst rider in the world now,” the Belgian told reporters after crossing the line 35 seconds down on winner Isaac del Toro on Sunday.

The line was delivered with a smirk. The result behind it was less amusing for a rider who arrived in Canada as the man to beat at the Worlds in the same city two Sundays later.

Del Toro of UAE Team Emirates-XRG outsprinted 19-year-old French climber Paul Seixas after the pair broke clear on the final ascent of Côte Camillien-Houde. Brandon McNulty completed the podium at 27 seconds, with Quinn Simmons fourth at 30 seconds and Evenepoel a further five seconds back. Evenepoel had been more than 40 seconds adrift during the decisive move and clawed back most of the gap in the closing kilometres.

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Four reasons for a bad day

Evenepoel offered a straightforward diagnosis rather than an excuse.

“No, I just really didn’t have a good day.”

“I don’t think I had completely recovered from Québec and the somewhat amateurish trip yesterday,” he said.

Friday’s GP Québec, which he won with a 28-kilometre solo attack, and a sluggish transfer between the two Canadian races were the backdrop.

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“I’m never really good in humid weather.”

He did not pretend he had matched Seixas on the climb.

“I couldn’t respond to the attack uphill, but I was the only one who was able to close the gap afterwards,” he told Sporza.

Belgium’s double leadership in Montréal

The wider stakes are the Worlds themselves. Belgian national coach Serge Pauwels named Evenepoel and Wout van Aert as co-leaders in an eight-man squad confirmed on 7 September, backed by Tiesj Benoot, Thibau Nys, Alec Segaert, Quinten Hermans, Maxim Van Gils and Gianni Vermeersch.

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Defending champion Tadej Pogačar is not in Montréal. His 2026 season ended with a crash at the Vuelta a España, taking out the rider who has claimed each of the last two rainbow jerseys. Evenepoel, the 2022 world champion in Wollongong, and Van Aert, twice a runner-up on the day, become the natural favourites in his absence.

“I can’t complain. If this was a bad day, it wasn’t that bad.”

“It’s better to have a bad day today than in two weeks at the World Championships.”

He also drew a hard line between the one-day Canadian classic and what waits on 27 September.

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“The World Championships are 60 kilometres longer than today. It will be a very different race with a lot more fatigue. Less explosive and more about endurance.”

The elite men’s road race covers 273.7 kilometres over 12 laps of the Mount Royal circuit, with roughly 3,800 metres of climbing. The men’s time trial, which Evenepoel has said is his immediate focus, comes first in the programme.

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