Ottawa's Michael Woods is getting back on his bike. The 39-year-old Canadian cyclist, who is originally from Ottawa and now lives between Andorra and Chelsea, Quebec, is coming out of retirement to compete for Canada's national team at the UCI Road World Championships in Montreal on September 27.
A homecoming worth unretiring for
Woods retired about a year ago, forced out by a hernia injury. But when the world championships landed in Montreal, he changed his mind. "If the world championships were anywhere else but Montreal, I wouldn't be doing them," Woods said. For Ottawa, where his cycling story began, watching him line up for Canada on home soil is a fitting final chapter.
Before the big day, Woods will also take on this weekend's Grand Prix Cycliste events in Quebec City and Montreal as tune-up races to sharpen up before the world championships.
From sub-four-minute miler to Tour de France stage winner
Woods didn't start out as a cyclist. He turned to the sport in 2012 after a stress fracture ended his competitive running career, and he signed his first professional cycling contract with Garneau-Quebecor in 2013. He went on to become the first person to ever run a sub-four-minute mile and complete the Tour de France, a distinction that speaks to just how far his athletic career has stretched across two disciplines.
On the bike, Woods built one of the most decorated careers of any Canadian cyclist. He won a stage at the Tour de France in 2023, and picked up three stage wins at the Vuelta a Espana, in 2018, 2020 and 2024. Longtime coach Paulo Saldanha has guided him through much of that run, and Woods has counted fellow Canadian Hugo Houle among his teammates over the years.
What he's been doing since retiring
Retirement didn't mean sitting still. Since stepping away from professional road racing, Woods kept competing, just in different disciplines. He took part in gravel biking, mountain biking and ski mountaineering events, including Pierra Menta, Leadville and Levi's GranFondo. That range shows an athlete who wasn't ready to stop testing himself, even after hanging up his road racing jersey.
Why Montreal matters
Woods's original plan was to close out his career at last year's Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal, the same race he'll now use as a tune-up. A hernia injury forced an abrupt end to that season before he ever got the chance to race his intended farewell. A year later, healthy again and with the world championships coming to Canadian soil, he's decided this is the moment to give cycling one more shot, on his own terms, in front of a home crowd.
No further details on race format or start times for September 27 have been confirmed yet, so Ottawa fans hoping to catch Woods's ride will want to keep an eye on the schedule as the world championships get closer.
Sources: paNOW (Canadian Press), iNFOnews.ca (Canadian Press)
