Pogacar crashed out of the Vuelta on stage 8. Concussion, broken collarbone, a fracture in his neck. Season over, 99% sure.

And because of that, Sunday is the first World Championships in three years where we tune in not already knowing the winner.

He was going for three titles in a row. That would have put him level with Merckx, Binda and Sagan. Instead he is flying to Canada anyway, to support his girlfriend and his Slovenian teammates. Class act.

So the race is properly open. Here is what you are watching.

273 kilometres, 3,800 metres of climbing. They start in Brossard, cross the river, and ride a flat 100k loop around Chambly where nothing happens. That is the formula. The early break goes, the big teams eat and chat, and everyone waits. It is the feeling-out period. The witches in Macbeth. Something ominous is coming later, just not yet.

The race starts when they hit the circuit. Twelve laps of 13.4km around Mont Royale, about 270 metres of climbing per lap, three climbs, and very few places to get off the pedals and breathe.

Climb one comes straight after the finish line. Camilien-Houde, 1.8k at 8%. A sticky climb. Long enough and steep enough that a proper climber can hurt a classics man there. Then a technical descent, three hairpins, and into Polytechnique: 780m at 6%, with a 200m ramp that goes into double digits. Then Pagnuelo, 530m at 7.5%, topping out 3k from the line. If a small group goes there, there is not enough road left to bring them back. And the last 600m rise at 4% to the finish. No pure sprinter lives on this course.

One more thing. No radios. Riders have turned into robots with a voice in the ear telling them what to do. Take the voice away and you get chaos. The good kind.

The bookies have Remco. Won Quebec on the 11th. A fourth time trial title last Sunday, nearly a minute over Ganna. World champion in Wollongong in 2022, second last year, Olympic champion in the road race. He turns up when it matters.

My head says Van der Poel. There has maybe never been a rider who locks onto one target and executes like him. Roubaix, Flanders, San Remo, the yellow jersey. Zurich in 2024 was 274k with 5,000 metres of climbing, 600 more than Montreal, and he took bronze. And if you missed it, he attacked the Tour of Luxembourg the other day after 3k and stayed away solo for 174 kilometres. Against a WorldTour peloton. It looked like a televised training ride.

My heart says Wout. Phenomenal legs in the Vuelta. He has been the only man alive who can follow Pogacar when he goes - the last stage of the Tour last year, Roubaix this year.

If you want value, Isaac Del Toro. In Montreal two weeks ago the acceleration came while he was drinking from his bottle. He calmly put the bottle back in the cage, changed down a gear, and rode straight across ten bike lengths like it was nothing. That tells you what is in the legs. He is maybe not even 22 yet.

And Ben Healey. Bronze last year, and a guest on the podcast. An injury-hit season, the crash in the Basque Country, a Tour spent hunting form. Two weeks ago in Montreal he hit out 50k from home, got caught, and still finished top 10. Top 10 again for Ben this year.

A small bit of history, because it makes Sunday better. The first worlds was 1927, won by Binda. Since then the roll of honour is basically the list of the greatest riders who ever lived: Coppi, Merckx, Hinault, LeMond, Roche in 87, Sagan three times. Montreal has done this before. 1974, the first worlds held outside Europe, and Merckx won it on these same roads over Mont Royale. Two years later the same climb hosted the Olympic road race. Sunday is 52 years on from Merckx and 50 from that Olympics.

One day. National jerseys. No radios. The strongest rider normally wins. That is why Valverde waited until he was 38. That is why Sean Kelly never won it.

You will hear Pidcock's name. I don't see it. Brilliant on the mountain bike, one of the great cross-country riders of all time. On the road alone, the palmares are not there.

This week

Watch it. If you only watch one hour of bike racing this year, make it the last hour on Sunday. When they hit Mont Royale for the final time, look at who is left and remember what you read here.

Who have you got?

Loop of the Week

Roadman Group Spin (Saturday Route) - Dublin. 83.4km, 319m of climbing.

"I get loads of DM's from people visiting Dublin looking for the Roadman group ride gpx file. Here it is, it's a rolly one."

Ride it: https://www.loops.ie/routes/6565324e-8187-4cbd-ad69-f612cdd01d90

P.S. The full preview is on the podcast, all the picks and the course in detail: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6B9291mkd20V9lcPavuEz5

Sarah’s Women’s Worlds preview is on the podcast from Thursday: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2iqmJUPZdD1qNd3s5xOmSA

P.P.S. We are doing a watch-along inside the Not Done Yet coaching group on Sunday. If you want in, apply at roadmancycling.com

Anthony