Canadian cyclist Woods to unretire for 'last' race at upcoming road worlds in Montreal

Michael Woods had long envisioned carving through the streets of Montreal, a city that helped launch his professional cycling career, as the perfect finish. Then a painful hernia robbed him of that moment.

Or so he thought.

One year after the injury forced an abrupt ending weeks before his planned swansong at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal, the Tour de France stage winner is getting back on his bike.

Cycling Canada announced last month Woods, 39, was coming out of retirement to ride for the national team at the upcoming road cycling world championships in Montreal.

"If the world championships were anywhere else but Montreal, I wouldn't be doing them," Woods said. "It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity … it has such, such big meaning to me that, yeah, I had to do this.

"But it's the last one. For sure, it's the last one."

The Ottawa native, now residing in Andorra and Chelsea, Que., will also compete in this weekend's Grand Prix Cycliste events in Quebec City and Montreal as a tune-up for the UCI World Tour's flagship race on Sept. 27.

It's a scenario Woods couldn't have imagined when he walked away from the sport bruised and disillusioned some 12 months ago.

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"I was almost jaded on the sport by the time I announced my retirement. It had become a job," said Woods, who rode for the since-rebranded Israel-Premier Tech, during a phone interview last month. "I wasn't recovering well; I wasn't performing as well as I would have liked to. I definitely didn't end on a good note last year, especially with the hernia.

"It left a bad taste in my mouth, and I wasn't happy with how I finished."

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