US national champion Ashlin Barry expects long, hard day of 'uncontrolled' racing at U23 World Championships road race as 'course is on the limit'

Ashlin Barry expects to hear a lot of people cheering for him at the men’s under-23 road race this Friday at the 2026 Road World Championships. Friends and family will be in attendance from Toronto, including his parents and sister, as the US men’s U23 road race national champion grinds his way around 13 laps of the 13.4km circuit in Montreal for Team USA.

He has been to Road Worlds twice before, winning a silver medal in the men’s junior time trial in Kigali. But this year is doubly significant as he races in Canada, where he lives with dual citizenship, and Friday is his 19th birthday.

“A medal would be nice,” he told Cycling News about the best way to celebrate his new age.

“Yeah, but I’m excited to race. It’s in the morning. I can hang out with my family after and hoping for a nice day. I think to win on this course you have to be really strong, with us starting on the circuit and doing the whole race there.”

The total length of racing is 174.2 kilometres with 3,497 metres of elevation gain, coming on the 1.7km Camillien-Houde climb to the top of Mount Royal and then the Côte de la Polytechnique on the back side, nearly half the distance but with steeper pitches up to 14%. He agreed that the circuits would wear down many of the riders, but it had the longer distance and the climbing that suited his abilities, though after a pre-ride on Wednesday it might be closer suffering than smooth sailing.

“I do like a bit of climbing. I definitely like a hard race, but I think this course is on the limit. I expect the race will be fairly uncontrolled. It’s pretty common for junior and U23 racing. If it’s raced a certain way, and if I feel really good and I’m strong, then I think I can be in the mix and be competitive.”

This season Barry began a four-year stint with the Visma-Lease a Bike Development team and spent most of his time in Europe. In the 1.Pro-level Grand Prix de Denain, he was called up to the WorldTour team and finished in the top 20, that race 200km. Just prior to Worlds, he went fourth on stage 3 at Tour de l’Avenir, that ride 30km longer.

And in between, Barry made the trip to West Virginia to win the USPro National Championships and won his fourth career road title, the other coming as a junior. He almost won a medal in the elite men's road race as well, going fourth behind winner Quinn Simmons, Kevin Vermaerke and Larry Warbasse.

Like other juniors and U23 riders, who don't race the WorldTour races of Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal, Barry checked out the climbing for the first time on Wednesday in a course preview, open for two hours to all riders at Worlds.

After the pre-ride he spoke in a one-on-one interview with Cycling News and related his familiarity with the course since both his parents, retired professional cyclists Michael Barry of Canada and USA's Dede Demet-Barry, had competed in races on similar roads. In fact, Demet-Barry came out of retirement in 2002, five years before Ashlin was born, and won the 98km Montreal World Cup road race that featured 12 ascents of Mount Royal.

"I hadn't ridden it in person. I've driven the course before a couple years ago, and watched the race from the sidelines. One of my first memories of watching a bike race was seeing my dad here. I think his last race was in 2012 or something. I was super young, but I have some memories of that," Barry recalled about his father's second time racing at Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal.

"I remember getting like a T-shirt and a cowbell and ringing it. I remember seeing my dad there. I was like five or six years old, so I was super young."

Do either of his parents have tips to impart about the course?

"My parents tend to be sort of hands off, you know, and let me get advice from my coaches, and see the course for myself. I'll probably chat with them this afternoon because it was my first time riding the course."

Barry finished one spot off the podium in the U23 time trial on Monday. World Championships are familiar turf, last year winning two silver medals - one on the road in the junior ITT and the other in the Omnium at the 2025 Junior Track World Championships. The tall teenager at 1.92 m (6 feet, 4 inches), looks forward to the team environment for his next chance at a medal.

"We have a smaller team than the elite race, they have eight guys, which makes it easier to control a race," he noted. "I'm not going in thinking like I have a super high chance of getting a medal or something, but I think I can be in the mix and definitely contest the final."