{"id":911409,"date":"2026-09-30T20:38:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T20:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/911409\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T20:38:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T20:38:11","slug":"rasmussen-not-excited-about-mcnulty-as-world-champion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/911409\/","title":{"rendered":"Rasmussen not excited about McNulty as World Champion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brandon McNulty<\/a>\u2019s world title has generated plenty of debate in the cycling world. Aside from the fact that the American from UAE Emirates-XRG delivered a magnificent performance in a fantastic race, few people seem to be looking forward to a year with McNulty in the rainbow jersey. Michael Rasmussen explained on Viaplay<\/a> why he isn\u2019t particularly happy about the new world champion.<\/p>\n

McNulty is an outstanding rider, but it\u2019s no wonder that his World Championship victory came as a big surprise. The 28-year-old climber added his 23rd victory to his record with the World Championship, but in the public\u2019s mind, he\u2019s still best known as a top-tier domestique, particularly for Tadej Pogacar. A closer look at McNulty\u2019s list of achievements reveals \u201conly\u201d 8 WorldTour victories.<\/p>\n

Since joining UAE, McNulty has won stages in Paris-Nice, the Giro d’Italia, and the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a, among others. He has also claimed the overall titles at the Tour of Valencia, the CRO Race (twice), and the Tour of Poland. In the Grand Tours, he only competed for a general classification in 2025, finishing ninth in the Giro. In the other Grand Tours, he rode in a support role, often working for his teammates.<\/p>\n

Read more below the photo<\/p>\n

\"matthews-mcnulty-van-der-poel\"\/<\/p>\n

Brandon McNulty on the podium in Montreal as world champion.<\/p>\n

Rasmussen would have preferred Del Toro to be the world championWill the rainbow jersey change anything? Rasmussen fears not. \u201cIt would be extremely uncool if McNulty, in his rainbow jersey, ends up being the third or fourth rider in the UAE train, with his jersey full of water bottles, waiting for his turn to lead out for Pogacar and Isaac del Toro.\u201d McNulty himself indicated after the World Championships that he\u2019d be more than happy to continue in a support role<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“If McNulty is lucky, UAE will give him a team so he can win races like the Tour of Poland,” said Rasmussen. \u201cOtherwise, it\u2019ll be a pretty bizarre sight. He\u2019ll have a huge burden on his shoulders. He\u2019s just not a star like the others\u2014not a rider who wins a lot of races at the very highest level. The rainbow jersey would have suited Del Toro better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more below the photo<\/p>\n

\"isaac-del-toro-2\"\/<\/p>\n

Isaac del Toro<\/p>\n

UAE Emirates-XRG sees potential in McNulty<\/p>\n

Still, it\u2019s no coincidence that McNulty has already signed a contract with UAE through the end of 2030. He\u2019s a welcome member of the team. In the United States, there was virtually no attention paid to the world title, and there wasn\u2019t even any live coverage on television. But the joy among his UAE teammates and staff members was immense.<\/p>\n

On Sporza<\/a>, people from the UAE described him as \u201cvery quiet,\u201d \u201cshy,\u201d and \u201creserved.\u201d But: \u201cI hear from the riders that he\u2019s often the life of the party at the dinner table.\u201d There were also nothing but positive comments about his strengths. \u201cBrandon is someone who loses very little of his strength after a long and grueling race. That\u2019s a quality he can\u2019t always bring to bear in every race\u2014especially since he often rides in support of others,\u201d said Rune Herregodts.<\/p>\n

Give McNulty a chance to ride on his own, and Florian Vermeersch says, \u201cI consider Brandon to be among the top 20\u2014or maybe even the top 10\u2014riders in the world.\u201d Herregodts hopes the American will get more opportunities. \u201cIf he heads into the Tour well-prepared and in the form he\u2019s in now, a stage win while wearing the rainbow jersey is certainly not out of the question.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brandon McNulty\u2019s world title has generated plenty of debate in the cycling world. Aside from the fact that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":911410,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,182780,784,16656,301239,85,19805],"class_list":["post-911409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-brandon-mcnulty","tag-cycling","tag-cycling-world-championships","tag-latest-cycling-news","tag-sports","tag-uae-team-emirates-xrg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/911409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=911409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/911409\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/911410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=911409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=911409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=911409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}