Road cycling world champion Magdeleine Vallières reflects on her historic win
It’s been a couple of weeks off from riding and Magdeleine Vallières is itching to get back on her bike—especially since it’s now rainbow coloured.
“When I got it, I felt like a little kid. My rainbow bike has been staring at me since I got home, so I just want to go ride!” said Vallières.
Not just anyone gets to wear rainbow stripes in the world of cycling. That honour is reserved for world champions.
At the 2025 UCI Road World Championships in Kigali, Rwanda at the end of September, 24-year-old Vallières wrote her name in the Canadian cycling history books, becoming the first Canadian ever to earn the title of elite road race world champion. Only four Canadians have stood on the podium, and always in the bronze medal position: Steve Bauer and Michael Woods in the men’s event in 1984 and 2018, respectively, and Alison Sydor and Linda Jackson in the women’s event in 1991 and 1996, respectively.
For the next year, Vallières will wear the rainbow jersey, as will her counterpart on the men’s side, four-time Tour de France winner Slovenian Tadej Pogačar. And for the rest of her career, Vallières’ kit can feature a rainbow accent on the sleeves or collar—because once a world champion, always a world champion.
It’s extra special timing for Vallières though, as the 2026 UCI Road World Championships are set to take place in Montreal, meaning that she will be on the startline in the rainbow jersey as the defending champion in front of a Canadian crowd.
All of that is still taking some time to sink in.
“I’m still having a hard time believing it’s not a dream, that it’s really real,” Vallières said.
Crossing the finish line was the obvious memorable moment of the day, but Vallières says that a memory she will always treasure actually happened before the race.
“A big moment for me was the meeting before the race, when the sports director asked the other girls [Vallières’ teammates]: ‘What do you want to get out of this world championship?’ And they all said [to Vallières], ‘We want to help you, we believe in you,” recounted Vallières. “That really made me believe in myself.”
Contrary to what people may assume, road cycling is a team sport. Teammates will ride in support of a designated leader who stands the best chance of reaching the podium. At the world championships, Vallières was supported by Alison Jackson, Olivia Baril, Laury Milette, and Émilie Fortin. Vallières has only one previous professional road race victory to her name, at the Trofeo Palma Femina in 2024. She finished 14th at last year’s world championships.
But this recent breakthrough result bodes well for Vallières, who rides professionally for the EF Education-Oatly team, having more opportunities to notch wins.
“It’s opened a lot of doors, a lot of opportunities,” said Vallières. “I’ll get the chance to be supported by my team more often, and not always be a domestique [a support rider], to have my teammates working for me, and to go for the win more often. That would be really cool.”
The first call that Vallières made after her victory was to her father, the person who introduced her to the sport.
While the world championship win will certainly go down as a memorable ride, one of Vallières’ most special cycling memories is a trip that she took with her father when she was only nine years old.
“We took a trip from Sherbrooke to Gaspésie—a thousand kilometres in nine days. So, it was either going to be I really loved it or I really hated it—and I loved it!,” Vallières said with a laugh. “Since then, I’ve had a passion for cycling.”
And if she could go back and perhaps give that younger Magdeleine any advice?
“There are a lot of highs and lows in sport—and in life in general—but especially in professional sport. Sometimes you’re so caught up in your bubble that the lows feel like the end of the world, everything’s over. But keep working. The highs will come.”
