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Michael Woods says he is determined to right a few wrongs at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal after being left disappointed in his performance last time out.
Woods finished 15th behind last year’s winner Adam Yates, but said his recent stage win at the Vuelta a España gave him a huge amount of confidence that he would make a significant improvement on last year’s showing on Sunday.
Wearing his Canadian national champion’s kit, Woods met with reporters in Montréal on Saturday afternoon ahead of lining up to face the likes of Tadej Pogačar on the Parc du Mont-Royal circuit.
Woods said that he had given little thought to the Slovenian’s presence and explained that it would not mean that he would majorly adjust his race strategy.
“In some senses, he’s a problem, but in other senses, he makes the race really simple and easy,” Woods said. “It’s not a complicated race tomorrow. It’s super challenging in the sense that it’s just demanding from a physical perspective.
“And with Pogačar being there, you can almost guarantee that UAE are just going to make the race super hard, because that’s the best way for him to win. And then for me, it just makes my life both really easy and really hard. Easy in the sense of tactics, and very hard in the sense of just having to execute a plan.”
“Last year I was a bit disappointed with my performance,” he added. “It was a perfect race for me in the sense that it was really hard, really demanding, and it was such an attritional race, especially with the extra lap. I just remember feeling very upset and disappointed with my performance, not being able to be up there with Adam Yates and Pavel Sivakov.
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“I think we made some mistakes that day, we rode too much on the front, too early, and that cost us a bit, and I just wasn’t good enough. I didn’t have any real race days prior to Montréal last year, whereas I’ve got the Vuelta under my belt now. I think that’s really going to help me for this race.”
Montréal is already gearing up for the return of the World Championships in 2026. Woods will be 39-years-old by the time cycling’s showpiece event returns to his homeland. Nevertheless, he didn’t rule out extending his career in order to race for his country on one of cycling’s most famous circuits outside of Europe.
“If you asked me three, four months ago, I’d say definitely not,” he said. “That’s just with the illness that I had at the start of the year, I had this bacterial infection that we couldn’t figure out until May.
“During that period, I really thought that I was just getting old, and my performance was sliding. At that moment, I was thinking that I definitely wouldn’t go till 2026. Now that I’m doing well, and I’m feeling good, I certainly want to do next year, and then I’ll make a decision after that for 2026.”
Full details of the 2026 road race course are not yet known, but the route is likely to be similar to that of the GP Montréal. Aided by the two Canadian WorldTour races, Woods said that cycling is continuing to grow in popularity in the city.
“Montréal in general is just a great sporting city,” Woods said. “They have so many great events. And then also the course itself will be really, really hard I imagine. I haven’t seen the exact details of the course, but if it’s anything like this circuit, a worthy champion will be made.”
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