Benjamín Noval sweeps junior road race and time trial titles at 2026 World Championships

Double world titles in Montreal

Spanish cyclist Benjamín Noval won the junior road race at the UCI Road World Championships in Montreal on Thursday, September 24, 2026. The 17-year-old from Pola de Laviana, Asturias, broke away between 26 and 30 kilometres from the finish line on the Mont-Royal circuit. He completed the 134-kilometre race, which included 2,690 metres of climbing and gradients reaching 10%, to finish 42 seconds ahead of silver medallist Simon Defrance of France. Sweden's Elias Wändel took the bronze medal in a chase sprint at 3:25:47. Across source reports, Noval's winning time was recorded as either 3:03:36 or 3:23:35.

Tactical execution and time trial sweep

The victory followed Noval's gold medal in the junior individual time trial on Tuesday, September 22. In that event, he covered the 20.3-kilometre course in 25 minutes, 17 seconds, and 35 hundredths, beating Belgium's Vic De Smet by 6.35 seconds. In Thursday's road race, Spanish teammates Raúl López, Luca Martínez, and Aitor Martínez supported Noval before his attack. López finished 27th at 3:26:24, Aitor Martínez finished 42nd at 3:29:55, and Luca Martínez did not finish. Noval and Defrance had led together through the eighth lap, holding a six-second gap over Germany's Owen Kings and Italy's Brandon Davide Fedrizzi before Noval pulled clear alone.

Noval described his approach during the final laps after crossing the line.

From the start I felt very good, I had a good feeling and as I saw the race passing, I saw the moment was coming. When I decided to go forward, I didn't look back and straight to the line.

Palmarès and historical benchmarks

Noval became the first rider to win both the junior time trial and junior road race in the same World Championships since Remco Evenepoel of Belgium achieved the double in 2018. In Spain's cycling history, only Miguel Morrás in 1994 had previously won the junior road world title. The result also atoned for the 2025 World Championships in Kigali, Rwanda, where a crash three kilometres from the finish denied Noval a rainbow jersey. Earlier in 2026, Noval won the Tour de Valromey stage race in France and secured Spanish national junior championships in road racing, time trials, cyclocross, and mountain biking.

Family coaching and professional contract

Noval was coached by his father, Benjamín Noval González, a 14-season professional who rode for US Postal, Astana, and Saxo Bank as a domestique for Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong. The younger Noval developed at the MMR Academy, an Asturian training school directed by Beijing 2008 Olympic road race champion Samuel Sánchez. Following physiological evaluations at the academy, Ineos performance director Scott Drawer signed Noval to a professional contract for the WorldTour squad.

Noval González reflected on his son's versatility and development following the races in Montreal.

He is different from me, bigger and more versatile. He is a winner. I do not know how far he can go, but all this gives me a bit of vertigo.