Nocturnal 
Brandon McNulty put his hands on his head in disbelief as he crossed the finish line in Montreal, 13 seconds clear of the chasing pack. The 28-year-old American had just done something no rider from his country had managed in 33 years: win the men’s elite road race at the UCI Road World Championships.
The last American to wear the rainbow jersey was Lance Armstrong, who won in Oslo in 1993. As reported by the BBC and CBC, McNulty’s victory ends one of the longest title droughts in the sport for any nation.
It capped a gruelling 273.4km race that took six hours and 17 minutes to complete, according to the BBC. Australian Michael Matthews took silver after winning the sprint for second, while former world champion Mathieu van der Poel of the Netherlands claimed bronze.
A solo move that shocked the favourites
McNulty, who rides for UAE Team Emirates alongside Tadej Pogačar, was not among the pre-race favourites. As the Guardian noted, he has spent much of his career working as a domestique for the Slovenian superstar rather than chasing his own wins.
But with roughly 30 to 33km left to race, McNulty launched a decisive attack and built a lead of around 50 seconds heading into the final lap of the hilly Montreal circuit. Britain’s Tom Pidcock mounted a late chase that cut the gap to just seconds at one point, but McNulty held on.
“Until the last hundred metres, I didn’t believe it, I was so tired,” McNulty said, according to the Guardian. “I was just dying, but I kept pushing. We have said for weeks now that we had a super strong team. We talked about it, but I knew it would take a miracle. I guess miracles happen.”
He added that he had joked with his wife that morning about the possibility of winning, a moment reported by Yahoo Sports.
A chaotic race for the ages
The men’s race, run without the benefit of race radios, was described by the Guardian as volatile and unpredictable throughout. An early breakaway of 17 riders, including Eritrea’s Biniam Girmay, was eventually caught, before a series of splits reshaped the front of the race on the Voie Camillien-Houde climb.
Wout van Aert, Van der Poel and Britain’s Oscar Onley were among those animating the closing stages, while Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel, fresh off winning the individual time trial title a week earlier, was left to reflect on what might have been after his team’s tactics came unstuck.
Tom Pidcock finished seventh after also suffering a crash earlier in the race, with Ireland’s Ben Healy tenth and Evenepoel twelfth. Notably, defending champion Pogačar was absent through injury, opening the door for his American teammate to step up.
Where things stand now
McNulty’s win means the United States now has three men’s world road race champions in the event’s history, joining Armstrong and earlier winners. The American team’s tactics, using riders including Quinn Simmons and Matteo Jorgenson to control the race before McNulty’s decisive move, were credited by Yahoo Sports as key to the result.
McNulty now holds the rainbow jersey heading into the new season, in what has been widely described as one of the standout races of the year on the cycling calendar.
