Are Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel Arriving Too Late for Montréal Worlds?

Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel are rolling the dice on a late arrival at the UCI Road Cycling World Championships in Canada.

Two of the biggest favorites for Sunday’s elite men’s road race are only scheduled to land in Montréal on Tuesday, giving them five days to shake off a six-hour time difference before fighting for the rainbow jersey.

While Van Aert and Van der Poel were flying across the Atlantic, many of their most dangerous rivals are already deep into their second week in Canada.

Isaac del Toro, Paul Seixas, Tom Pidcock, Remco Evenepoel, and Brandon McNulty were among those who raced the Grands Prix Cyclistes de Québec and Montréal earlier this month.

They’ve had time to settle into the time zone, sample some poutine, and, most importantly, race and train on the same roads that will decide the world title.

Have two of the biggest stars left themselves too short of a runway before Sunday’s 273km showdown?

Cutting it late for Montréal arrival

Compared to the other worlds bigs, Van Aert and Van der Poel chose a very different route to road worlds for 2026.

Van Aert has twice lined up in Montréal, finishing second in 2022. Yet Van der Poel has never raced the Canadian one-days, so Wednesday’s training session on the finishing circuit will give the 2023 world champ his first glimpse at what lies ahead.

A bigger question is if there will be enough time to blow out the cobwebs and recover from any jet lag before Sunday’s race.

Former Belgian pro Jan Bakelants believes the late arrival can only count against them.

“It is by no means an advantage to leave so late,” Bakelants told Het Laatste Nieuws. “I understand that Wout wanted to be home for a while after all those weeks away, and I understand that Mathieu preferred to race in Luxembourg, but I am afraid the jet lag is still lingering in their bodies.”

The question is not whether either rider is fit, because both have delivered emphatic performances this month about exactly where their form is.

The doubt is whether their body clocks will be able to reset before the race blows up on the punishing Mount Royal circuit on Sunday.

Belgian team doctor plays down jet lag fears

Belgian Cycling doctor Kris Van der Mieren said jet lag is a real concern on performance, and did not deny the seven-hour-plus flight from Belgian to Montréal coupled with the six-hour time difference has real impacts.

He said the big caveat is that we’re talking about Van Aert and Van der Poel.

“For ordinary people, you can reason like that. But here we are talking about elite athletes,” Van der Mieren told Het Nieuwsblad.

“I don’t want to minimize the issue. Our sleep and wake rhythm is regulated quite precisely by our brain. Shift that by six hours and it will disrupt things considerably.”

Van der Mieren explained that the body begins preparing for sleep in the evening by producing less cortisol and testosterone and switching into recovery mode, which is “obviously not ideal for making a major effort.”

Elite athletes, however, appear to adjust more quickly than your average weekend warriors.

“For them, we are not talking about one day per hour, but rather one day per hour and a half or even two hours,” he said.

By that calculation, Van Aert and Van der Poel could need between three and four days to adjust to Montréal time.

That gives them a margin, but not by much.

Any poor night of sleep — like fans knocking on your hotel room door — could spill over into Sunday.

Van Aert chose recovery and home time

Van Aert’s late arrival comes after a long and draining Vuelta a España, where he won two stages and the green points jersey in brutal heat and a climb-heavy Vuelta.

The Belgian skipped Sunday’s individual time trial and stayed home to recover and spend time with his family before making the short turnaround to Canada.

Van Aert arrived later than expected for Tuesday’s flight and did not speak to journalists waiting at the airport.

The media attention reflects what’s at stake for Van Aert, who boasts a long list of major wins, but the elite road world title remains one of the big gaps on his palmarès.

He will share leadership with Evenepoel on a loaded Belgian team expected to shoulder much of the responsibility for controlling Sunday’s race.

Evenepoel — who spent weeks at altitude in the Italian Alps — already won GP Québec and blasted to a record fourth-straight world championship time trial title Sunday.

One sign that road worlds is still a very big deal in cycling-crazed Belgium was the live ticker that Het Laatste Nieuws posted online to track Tuesday’s airport departures.

Former Olympic road champion Greg Van Avermaet and Thibau Nys were also aboard the flight that included other Belgian national team members and staffers.

Gianni Vermeersch didn’t seem too worried about the compressed schedule.

“I’ve already raced in Canada for the past two years, and I always left quite late back then too. I’m someone who doesn’t suffer much from it, certainly not on the way there. The return journey is a bit trickier,” Vermeersch said.

Van der Poel hot off Luxembourg rampage

Van der Poel also chose to leave it late for his trip to Canada and flew on the same flight.

The Dutch star is traveling to Canada with his partner, who is expecting their first child in the coming months.

MVDP skipped the Canadian WorldTour races after his latest side quest of the mountain bike world title ended badly in Italy.

He returned to the road during the five-day Tour de Luxembourg, and any doubts about his form quickly evaporated.

Van der Poel won two stages and capped the race with a wild 174km solo victory on Sunday that’s being billed as the longest successful solo raids of the modern era.

Van der Poel still shrugged off suggestions that the performance pushed him to outright favorite status.

“I don’t think that solo in Luxembourg changes my status much. I don’t think I’m the top favorite, rather one of the outsiders,” Van der Poel said. “If I am the top favorite, I never hide, but there are riders with a better chance on this course than me. But of course, there are opportunities.”

So what will be the best approach?

Evenepoel, Del Toro, Seixas and the other early arrivals have already raced on the Canadian roads and will — on paper — have a better idea of what lies ahead.

Van Aert and Van der Poel land with perhaps fresher minds on the heels of two very different preparation blocks.

They also arrive with the clock ticking after parachuting in late to Montréal.