Brandon McNulty wins men’s road race world title with Montreal solo attack

Brandon McNulty won the men’s elite road race at the UCI World Championships in Montreal on Sunday, September 27, giving the United States its first title in the event since 1993. The 28-year-old rode clear with about 32 kilometres remaining and stayed ahead of a closing chase to win by 13 seconds. Australia’s Michael Matthews finished second and the Netherlands’ Mathieu van der Poel third.

The result put an American back at the top of the men’s elite road race podium for the first time since Lance Armstrong won in Oslo 33 years earlier. McNulty, an Arizona rider for UAE Team Emirates XRG, had finished fourth in the world time trial a week before the road race. His win came at the end of a 273.4-kilometre contest in which the leading groups repeatedly broke apart and re-formed.

A US advantage at the front

The decisive opening came after a leading quartet headed by Van der Poel was caught with about 35 kilometres to go. Cyclingnews reported that 12 riders were then near the front, including three Americans. Matteo Jorgenson attacked first for the US; McNulty followed with a move of his own at about 32 kilometres remaining and established a gap while Jorgenson marked the response behind him.

Those numbers mattered in a race with few straightforward opportunities to control the chase. Earlier, Van der Poel had helped force a six-rider break with American Quinn Simmons among its members. France and Mexico worked to bring that group back, while other contenders attacked as the field spread across the Montreal circuit. The Guardian reported that riders raced without radios, adding to the uncertainty as the groups changed.

On that climb, the margin was down to about 10 seconds, according to Cyclingnews. McNulty nevertheless reached the finish alone. Matthews won the sprint for second place, with Van der Poel third; both were 13 seconds behind the winner. The narrow margin showed how close the chase came after McNulty had led by more than a minute earlier in the closing stages.

‘I kept pushing’

McNulty said afterward that exhaustion kept him from believing the victory was secure until he was nearly at the line. ‘Until the last hundred metres, I didn’t believe it,’ he told the Guardian. ‘I was so tired. I was just dying, but I kept pushing.’ He said the US riders had discussed their strength before the race, while recognizing how difficult it would be to turn that into a title.

His surprise was also clear in the comments reported by Cyclingnews. McNulty said he had joked with his wife that something might happen, but that winning would take ‘a miracle’. His ride came a week after he placed fourth in the world time trial, making the road race the second major championship effort of his week in Montreal.

The finish and its place in US history

For Matthews, silver followed earlier road race world championship medals: he was second in 2015 and third in 2017 and 2022, the Guardian reported. Matthews said the result carried particular weight after a difficult period that included a lung embolism and broken wrists in a training crash earlier this year. His sprint secured second place, but McNulty had already crossed the line.

Remco Evenepoel, who had won the world time trial title seven days earlier, was among the pre-race favourites for the road race. Cyclingnews listed him 12th after a day in which he missed key moves and later rejoined a chasing group. Van der Poel, a former road race world champion, took the final podium place after repeatedly driving attacks during the closing portion of the race.

McNulty joins Armstrong and Greg LeMond, who won in 1983 and 1989, among the American winners of the men’s elite road race world title. His victory followed the women’s championship race in Montreal, where Demi Vollering won after a dramatic finish. Together, the two races closed a championship weekend in which the road titles were decided only in the final stages.