Spanish rider Benjamin Noval claimed the rainbow jersey in the men’s Junior Individual Time Trial (ITT) at the 2026 UCI Road World Championships in Montréal, Canada, on Tuesday.

Noval, 17, completed the 20.3km course in 25 minutes and 17.35 seconds to secure the title, finishing six seconds ahead of Belgium’s Vic De Smet and 16 seconds clear of third-placed Danish rider Malthe Risbjerg.

He joins an illustrious list of past winners in the category, including Remco Evenepoel, Tom Pidcock, Michal Kwiatkowski, Marcel Kittel and Fabian Cancellara.

The race was wide open, with last year’s champion Michiel Mouris of the Netherlands and runner-up Ashlin Barry of the United States both moving up to the U23 category. Third-placed Seff Van Kerckhove of Belgium was also absent after reportedly being hit by a driver while training.

The Under-18 category proved challenging for Rwanda, with Brian Ishimwe emerging as the country’s best finisher. He crossed the line 3 minutes and 48 seconds behind the winner to finish 57th.

Ishimwe slipped two places from his performance at last year’s World Championships in Kigali, where he finished 55th as the event was held on African soil for the first time.

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Rwanda’s other rider in the event, Pacifique Byusa, also finished lower than he did in Kigali, dropping from 55th last year to 64th in Montréal.

Attention now shifts to the women’s Junior ITT, which will cover the shortest distance of the championships at 10.4km. Rwanda will be represented by Donatha Akimana and Yvonne Masengesho.

Men’s Junior ITT top five

Benjamin Noval (Spain) — 25:17.35

De Swet Vic (Belgium)

Malthe Risbjerg (Denmark)

Julius Birkedal (Denmark)

Patrik Pezzo Rosola (Italy)