Ashlin Barry Makes History as First American to Win U23 World Championship Title

Ashlin Barry won a nail-biting race Friday to become the first American rider to win the U23 title at the UCI Road World Championships.

Barry — celebrating his 19th birthday — held firm over the final climb of the Voie Camillien-Houde (1.7km à 7.7%) on the bell lap to power alone.

The Team USA star used this time trialing skills in the closing 10km to fend off a determined five-rider chase group to solo home the historic victory.

“It’s incredible. I can’t believe it,” Barry said. “Honestly, I didn’t think it was possible. I thought maybe at best I could get a medal or a nice result. I thought maybe in the TT I could have a chance, but to win on this course is just unbelievable.”

No American male had ever won the U23 world title since it was introduced in 1996. Taylor Phinney was bronze in 2010.

Barry — the son of ex-pros Michael Barry and Dede Demet-Barry — attacked out of an early breakaway with two laps to go.

The chasing pack clawed within 20 seconds, but he turned on the turbos in the closing lap and a half to deliver Team USA’s first gold medal of the Montréal 2026 worlds.

Spain’s Héctor Álvarez took silver 53 seconds behind Barry, with Norway’s Jesper Stiansen claiming bronze.

Team USA’s Marcis Shelton was 12th in the second chase group at 1:19 back.

Solo attack with two laps to go

Barry linked up with an early move midway through what was going to be an attritional race a highly demanding 174.2km circuit featuring 13 laps over Mount Royal.

The Visma-Lease a Bike star launched the definitive move with just under 30km to go to drop Kristian Egholm of Denmark.

“I didn’t really think I’d be strong enough to follow the best guys on the climbs,” Barry said. “I thought if I could get ahead, maybe that would give me some room to go a bit slower on the climbs and still make the front group. Once I was away, I just committed.”

From there, it was one against many. The pack closed within 20 seconds on the penultimate climb, but Barry buried himself to carry a 40-second lead into the bell lap.

Five riders gave chase, including Matteo Scalco, Aubin Sparfel, Niels Driesen, Héctor Álvarez and Jesper Stiansen.

The physical distance was only about 250 meters of Canadian blacktop at one point, but up the steep climb, that was about 40 seconds coming over the top.

From there, he put his 6-foot-4 and 170-pound frame to work over the final two kickers to make history.

Family pedigree with fast track to the WorldTour

Barry’s world title caps a rapid rise for the 19-year-old, who stepped up to Visma-Lease a Bike’s development squad this season.

He had already shown his range on the road and track, with second at the junior Paris-Roubaix in 2025, then silver in the junior time trial at the Kigali worlds, where he missed gold by less than seven seconds.

This year he won the U.S. under-23 road title and placed fourth in Monday’s under-23 worlds time trial in Montréal.

Born to former professional cyclists Michael Barry, a Canadian, and Dede Demet-Barry, of Wisconsin, who won a silver medal in time trial in 2004 Olympic Games.

Friday’s solo victory gave him his first rainbow jersey in his first season racing at under-23 level.

“There are so many people I have to thank. It was unreal being out there, seeing so many friends and my family,” Barry said. “I could hear my dog barking on the side of the course, so it really felt like a home race. I’m so grateful for the support I had.”

The victory is a boost for Team USA, which has hit several top 10s so far in racing, but has missed the podium until Barry’s big coming out party.

Results U23 men’s world championships