UCI Road World Championships: Brandon McNulty shocks the favourites to win solo and claim first elite men's road race world title for USA since 1993 in all-time epic edition

How do you make sense of the race that never ends? 273.4km and six and a quarter hours of complete carnage, and it was the USA’s Brandon McNulty who emerged victorious in Montreal in the elite men’s road race at the UCI World Championships, arriving alone at the line after a breathless edition. He surprised the favourites with an opportunistic, powerful 32km solo move to claim his nation’s first elite men’s rainbow jersey since 1993 and the biggest win of his career, celebrating in complete disbelief as he crossed the line.

In what felt like the race of 1000 attacks, the race delivered on its promise of being one of the most open editions in history, with McNulty’s trade teammate and two-time defending champion Tadej Pogačar unable to defend his title due to a crash at the Vuelta. The question of whether it was better without him was answered tenfold.

For 238 of the 273.4km, several breakaways were attempted, but the most crucial moment came with 35km to go, and the USA were the best-represented team, when a lead breakaway quartet spearheaded by Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands) was finally caught by a group containing the pre-race favourites of Isaac del Toro (Mexico) and Paul Seixas (France).

12 riders looked set to play out the finale, including the likes of Tom Pidcock (Great Britain), Ben Healy (Ireland) and Primož Roglič (Slovenia) also present, but it was the men from just across the border who took up the initiative, first attacking with Matteo Jorgenson, and then McNulty, who was able to get a gap.

10 seconds quickly became 35, and by the time he crossed what would be the finish line with a 1:03 lead heading into the final two laps, McNulty could start to dream. Fourth in the Worlds time trial a week ago, this became the most important solo effort McNulty would ever make, almost crashing around one of the corners and seeing his gap cut down to just 35 seconds at points.

But just when it seemed like McNulty was going to do it, the absolute thriller delivered another twist, with his gap coming down to just 10 seconds on the final rep up the key Voie Camillien-Houde climb, seemingly cracking on the climb. With Jorgenson marking everyone and defending like a true champion himself, the chasing group was narrowly unable to pull back the daring American attacker, who won by just 13 seconds from Michael Matthews (Australia) in second, and Van der Poel in third.

More to follow…

Results

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