“A miracle was needed, and today it happened”: McNulty and the World Championships that seemed impossible

Brandon McNulty still did not seem to understand what he had just achieved when he spoke to the media after crossing the finish line in Montreal. The American had become world champion after 33 kilometers solo and a final lap in which he reached his absolute limit. So much so that before the race he had joked with his wife about his chances and told her that to win he practically needed a miracle.

Brandon McNulty: "A miracle was needed and today it happened"

Brandon McNulty has just starred in one of the great surprises of the Montreal World Championship. The American attacked 33 kilometers from the finish and perfectly took advantage of a tactical situation in which the United States also had Matteo Jorgenson and Quinn Simmons among the strong men.

The lead exceeded a minute, but the outcome was far from comfortable. In the final lap, the attacks from the pursuers quickly reduced the gap and McNulty began to pay for the effort.

At the finish, he was still trying to process it. "I don't know what's going through my mind. I'm completely lost. Until the last 100 or 200 meters, I didn't even believe it. I was totally empty."

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Especially tough was the last pass through Mont-Royal. The American admitted that he could barely maintain the intensity after more than six hours of racing.

"On the last climb of Mont-Royal, I was dying. I was practically in zone 2, but I kept pushing." It was enough.

Behind, Tom Pidcock managed to significantly reduce the gap and for a few moments the chase seriously threatened his victory. But the lack of understanding returned to the group and McNulty managed to stabilize his lead to reach the finish alone, 13 seconds ahead of Michael Matthews and Mathieu van der Poel.

"We had been saying for weeks that we had a very strong team"

McNulty wanted to share much of the credit with his teammates. The United States ran a particularly aggressive race and reached the decisive moment with several options open.

Quinn Simmons had been at the front for a good part of the final and finished fourth. Matteo Jorgenson, eighth, was able to control movements within the chase while McNulty advanced solo.

"We had been saying for weeks that we had a very strong team and today we raced incredibly well. We were in all the moves, we always had riders at the front and behind we could control. I have no words."

The situation was especially favorable when McNulty decided to go. Jorgenson was among his pursuers and also Isaac Del Toro, McNulty's teammate at UAE Team Emirates-XRG, so not all members of the group had the same interest in immediately organizing the chase.

McNulty did not wait to find out what would happen behind. He turned the last 33 kilometers into an individual time trial and held on until the end.

"I joked about it with my wife"

Perhaps the most striking thing is that even McNulty did not really see himself as a future world champion before the start.

He had reasons to be confident in Montreal. He had won the GP of Montreal in 2025, finished third in the edition held a few weeks before this World Championship, and had just finished fourth in the world time trial. But even with those credentials, he felt he needed something extraordinary to wear the rainbow jersey.

"We had talked about it and I was joking with my wife. I knew something could happen, but to win a miracle was needed. I guess that miracle happened today."

And it happened precisely in one of the scenarios he knows best. An attack that initially no one wanted to follow, a perfectly positioned American selection behind, and 33 kilometers to the limit ended up making Brandon McNulty the world champion.

The American also succeeds his teammate Tadej Pogačar as the owner of the rainbow jersey and returns the men's Elite world title to the United States 33 years after its previous victory, achieved in 1993 by Lance Armstrong.