American Brandon McNulty Stuns Favourites to Win Road Cycling World Title

American cyclist Brandon McNulty pulled off a stunning win in the elite men's road race at the world cycling championships in Montreal, attacking six kilometres from the finish and holding off his rivals to the line. The victory gave the United States its first rainbow jersey in 33 years — the last American to wear it was Lance Armstrong.

Favourites left without a medal

With Tadej Pogačar out injured, the main contenders for the title were Belgians Remco Evenepoel and Wout van Aert, young talents Paul Seixas and Isaac del Toro, and all-rounder Mathieu van der Poel. Van der Poel attacked most often during the race — only American Quinn Simmons and Slovenian Primož Roglič could stay with him — but the rest of the favourites chose to bide their time, with two hours of racing still to go.

The race was decided in the final three laps. After the groups merged, three Americans found themselves at the front of the lead group and made the most of it: nobody reacted to McNulty's surprise attack, and within six kilometres the rider from Phoenix had built a decisive lead of almost a minute. By the final climb his advantage had shrunk to ten seconds, but the chasers had nothing left to give.

"I didn't believe it until the last metres"

"On that last climb I was dying, but I just kept turning the pedals. I don't know how I managed it," McNulty said after the finish. "I still don't really know what's happening. I didn't believe it until the very last metres. I have no words. My wife and I joked that it might just work out, but I kept telling myself it would take a miracle. And the miracle actually happened," he added, fighting back tears.

Thirteen seconds behind, the battle for the remaining medals was fierce: Australian Michael Matthews won the sprint to take silver, his first medal in eleven years, while bronze went to van der Poel.

Czech champion breaks his nose

Czech riders Jakub Otruba and Pavel Novák abandoned well before the finish. Czech national champion Matyáš Vacek also lost his chance of a good result after being caught up in a mass crash. "Bad luck struck us again in this race. Matyáš crashed on the final laps," said national team coach Petr Kaltofen.

"We reached him about three minutes later — he was already being treated by doctors and paramedics. He was talking to us, and was then taken to hospital for further examination," Kaltofen said. Tests revealed a broken nose. "Unfortunately it didn't go the way I wanted. I'd really been looking forward to this race after a disappointing time trial. I was riding well, everything was going to plan. But then came the crash, and I ended up in hospital with a broken nose. Nothing to be done about it now — hopefully next time will go better," Vacek said.

His participation in the upcoming European Championships in Slovenia is now in doubt. "Once I'm back home I'll see specialists, we'll assess the injury, and then decide whether I'll be able to start at the Europeans or need to take a break," the rider added.

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Around Prague, based on reporting by sport.cz