Canada have unveiled their men's squad for the upcoming UCI Road World Championships on home soil, and there's plenty of quality, but one name stands out.
Michael Woods, the 28-year-old who retired from road racing at the end of 2025, is on the list of six names.
Woods, a former distance runner who came late to cycling but earned considerable success, including a stage win at the Tour de France and the silver medal at the 2018 Road Worlds, has joined the gravel circuit in 2026 amid his road racing retirement.
He's even branching into mountain biking, lining up in his first flat-bar race at Leadville Trail 100 MTB on Saturday. However, he'll soon be back on the road after being selected for one of the very biggest races in the world, the elite men's road race at the UCI Road World Championships, taking place in Montreal.
"Michael Woods, a Tour de France stage winner, three‑time Vuelta a España stage winner, double La Route d’Occitanie GC champion, and former World Championships podium finisher, joins the team with world-class experience and leadership," read a statement from Cycling Canada announcing their elite men's squad.
Canada will be led by Lidl-Trek's Derek Gee-West, with support coming from fellow WorldTour pros Hugo Houle, Michael Leonard, and Pier-André Côté, while the squad is rounded out by Nickolas Zukowsky, who rides for the second-tier Pinarello Q36.5 team.
Woods, then, is an outlier. But this unusual arrangement will scratch an itch, allowing him a farewell on home soil after his planned swan song at last year's GP de Montréal failed to materialise due to a hernia injury.
"I really wanted to end my career in Montreal. I didn’t do that last year due to a hernia. I ended up getting surgery for that and it wasn’t the ending to my career that I wanted," Woods told Canadian Cycling Magazine.
"Also, I really wanted to do Road Worlds in Montreal but couldn’t wrap my head around doing a full WorldTour calendar. I’m just really glad I got the opportunity to do this alternative calendar. It’s kept me in great shape. I feel really fortunate to have been selected. But I also think I did some really good racing over the course of the year to prove that I’m still in good form. I think I’ll still be a valuable asset to the team at Worlds."
Woods did race the national championships road race in June, but this push for Worlds comes as a more sustained spell on the road, which will include the GP de Québec and GP de Montréal WorldTour races in September in the build-up to Worlds.
Canada is fielding a national squad for GPs de Québec and Montréal, which will act as a springboard towards Worlds for most of the sport's biggest stars, so Woods will be able to test himself against a world-class peloton of his former contemporaries.
"I’m really looking forward to riding with the younger guys and hopefully I can provide some leadership to them, but selfishly, I need those races to prepare for Worlds. I feel like, if I don’t don’t do those races, it’ll be like merging onto the freeway with a moped," Woods added.
"I actually think being here at Leadville is going to be really nice preparation. It’ll cap off a nice altitude block for me. I think coming out of Leadville I will be way better aerobically and then I can just focus on putting some more intensity into my training.
"I’m hoping that after those two races [Québec and Montréal] and a small training block in the Eastern Townships with my coach, I should be ready for Worlds."
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