Alejandra Neira wins junior road title and Ashlin Barry takes under-23 gold in Montreal

Junior women's title for Neira

Spanish cyclist Alejandra Neira won the junior women's road race at the UCI Road World Championships in Montreal on Friday. The 18-year-old from Santiago de Compostela, who rides for Movistar Team, completed the 80.4-kilometer urban circuit on Mont-Royal in 2:21:00. Neira edged out Italy's Matilde Rossignoli and Switzerland's Anja Grossmann in a sprint finish, negotiating a course featuring 1,609 meters of elevation. The victory succeeded fellow Spaniard Paula Ostiz, who won the junior world title in Rwanda in 2025.

Neira previously won the junior Liège-Bastogne-Liège in April and held Spanish national junior titles in both the road race and time trial. In Montreal, she entered Friday's race after placing ninth in Tuesday's individual time trial, finishing 45 seconds behind Poland's Maria Okrucińska. The road race split 13 kilometers before the finish when Dutch rider Mirthe Mons attacked from the lead group with Neira following her move, eventually forming the decisive group in the final kilometer.

“I cannot believe that I am the world champion. It is incredible.”

“When there were three of us and the other two riders caught us I lost a bit of my confidence because Maria Okrucinska is a very good sprinter. But I tried to stay on her wheel and saw that I had enough to get past.”

Under-23 men's race and Barry's solo victory

In the men's under-23 road race held earlier on Friday, United States rider Ashlin Barry claimed the gold medal after an extensive solo effort. Barry, who turned 19 on the day of the race and competes for the Visma-Lease a Bike development team, completed the 174-kilometer course in 4:17:35. Barry attacked roughly 140 kilometers from the finish during the third lap as part of a five-man breakaway, dropped Danish rider Kristian Egholm 32 kilometers from the end, and rode the final four laps alone.

Barry was born in Girona to former professional cyclists Michael Barry and Dede Demet-Barry, moving to Toronto in 2013, and holds dual citizenship before choosing to compete for the United States. His victory followed a fourth-place finish in Monday's under-23 individual time trial.

Ashlin Barry0

Héctor Álvarez53

Jesper Stiansen53

Ashlin Barry

0 s

Héctor Álvarez

53 s

Jesper Stiansen

53 s

Data from the article text

Álvarez takes silver in chase sprint

Spain's Héctor Álvarez captured the silver medal in the under-23 road race, crossing the line 53 seconds behind Barry. The 19-year-old Lidl-Trek academy rider from Benidorm attacked with 19 kilometers remaining to thin the chase group down to five competitors. In the finishing sprint, Álvarez overtook Norway's Jesper Stiansen, who claimed the bronze medal with the same finishing time, as well as France's Aubin Sparfel, Belgium's Niels Driesen, and Italy's Matteo Scalco.

The silver marked Álvarez's second medal of the Montreal championships, adding to the bronze medal he won on Monday in the under-23 individual time trial behind winner Ryan Gal of the Netherlands and Italy's Nicolas Milesi. Álvarez is scheduled to join the Lidl-Trek professional team next season alongside compatriot Juan Ayuso.

Spanish medal count across youth categories

Neira's victory brought Spain's medal tally to five across the junior and under-23 events in Montreal. Spanish rider Benjamín Noval contributed two gold medals earlier in the week, winning the 20.3-kilometer junior men's time trial on Tuesday and the junior men's road race on Thursday by a margin of 42 seconds over France's Simon Defrance. Álvarez earned two medals in the under-23 category with road race silver and time trial bronze, while Neira added junior road race gold.

The youth events concluded ahead of the elite road races scheduled for the weekend, where Spanish rider Paula Blasi is scheduled to compete in the women's professional race on Saturday.