Some of America’s top stars are bypassing Africa’s first worlds as Team USA hunts first elite road rainbow jersey in decades: ‘Not the best course for me.’
McNulty won GP Montréal for the biggest one-day win of his career. (Photo: Szymon Gruchalski/Getty Images)
Updated September 18, 2025 06:41AM
The UCI road worlds begin this weekend in Rwanda, but several of America’s biggest stars are nowhere to be seen.
Matteo Jorgenson, double Olympic champion Kristen Faulkner, Neilson Powless, Sepp Kuss, and Brandon McNulty all forfeited invitations or decided to skip the trip.
For Team USA, still chasing its first official elite road rainbow jersey in three decades, is this a missed opportunity on the demanding, climb-heavy course?
On paper, it looked like an ideal chance for the United States to finally break its decades-long drought in the elite road races.
Also read: Rwanda road worlds primer
That’s not to say that the U.S. team is under-gunned.
For the elite men’s squad, Team USA will line up with Will Barta and Magnus Sheffield racing both the road race and the time trial, with Luke Lamperti, Quinn Simmons, Kevin Vermaerke, and Larry Warbasse carrying team colors in the road race.
On the elite women’s team, Chloé Dygert and Ruth Edwards will double up in both the road race and the time trial.
So why the worlds detour for some of America’s generational talents in 2025? Let’s dive in:
Neilson Powless: Family comes first
Powless is putting family before the worlds. (Photo by Szymon Gruchalski/Getty Images)
Neilson Powless has been America’s most consistent worlds performer this decade, highlighted by his fifth place in Leuven four years ago. But this year family takes priority.
Fresh off fourth place at GP Montréal, Powless is clearly on good form and would be among Team USA’s best chances at the podium.
His fifth in Leuven was the best by an elite male since Chann McRae was fifth in 1999, and he has proven consistency in the grueling, monument-distance worlds, hitting team-leading top 20s with 11th in 2023, and 18th in 2022.
Powless, 29, told reporters in Canada that his wife is expecting their second child, adding that the long travel and commitment didn’t fit in with something bigger than a bike race.
The EF Education-EasyPost rider is still considering closing his season at Il Lombardia in October.
Matteo Jorgenson: ‘Prefer to be home’
Jorgenson is bypassing the worlds after a long season that stretched from Paris-Nice to the Vuelta. (Photo: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Matteo Jorgenson has had the pedal to the metal all season long, from a title defense at Paris-Nice, the spring classics, through a Tour de France-Vuelta a España double.
There simply wasn’t enough gas left in the tank for a long trip to Africa.
Despite a proven track record in prestigious one-day races, including ninth in last year’s Olympic Games in Paris, Jorgenson said that the high-altitude, climb-heavy Kigali course also isn’t ideal for his tastes.
“It does not look like a good course for me on paper,” Jorgenson told Velo. “Plus, it’s been a long season. My sister is getting married in October after this race, and I prefer to be home and celebrate this season with my family.”
Jorgenson, 26, has raced road worlds in his career in the junior, U23, and elite ranks, and told Velo last year he one day hopes to have a targeted run at the rainbow jersey. His 34th in Zurich last year remains his best.
Kristen Faulkner: Recovery takes priority
Kristen Faulkner won the Olympic road race in 2024. (Photo: Getty Images/Velo)
Kristen Faulkner’s absence leaves a gaping hole in the women’s team.
The double Olympic gold medalist in Paris would have been among the top favorites for Kigali.
Instead, she’s recovering from surgery and will not race again in 2025. Faulkner underwent shoulder surgery to repair cartilage damage dating back to a crash at the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift.
She is confident in a full recovery and return on a normal schedule for the 2026 season.
“The surgery was very successful,” she said last month. “With the timing of it, I’ll be able to start next season on a normal timeline. I’ll be healthy and fully recovered going into next season.”
Sepp Kuss: ‘Not the best worlds for me’
Kuss, left, kicked to second on Bola del Mundo and will finished seventh in Madrid. (Photo: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)
Sepp Kuss, America’s most accomplished grand tour rider of this generation, has waved off Rwanda despite the hilly profile.
The 2023 Vuelta a España champion has good reasons.
Like his Visma-Lease a Bike teammate Jorgenson, Kuss is coming off the Tour-Vuelta double, where he helped Jonas Vingegaard win red and hit seventh overall, his second-best grand tour result of his career.
“It’s actually not the best worlds for me. There is a lot of climbing, but it’s a lot of punchy climbs,” Kuss told Velo. “It’s not a course that’s best for me, and after two grand tours, it just doesn’t make sense for me to go and take up a spot of someone else.”
Kuss has lined up at the worlds before, but never played a role in the sharp end. His best finish remains 53rd in Imola 2020.
Brandon McNulty: Focus on Europe
Pogačar and McNulty celebrate in Montréal. (Photo: Szymon Gruchalski/Getty Images )
Brandon McNulty is another notable absentee.
At 27, McNulty is in peak form and carries impressive worlds credentials. He won the junior time trial in 2016, was fourth in the elite TT in 2023 and 17th in Zurich last year on the road, and has twice stood on U23 podiums against the clock.
Just days after winning GP Montréal, the UAE Emirates-XRG rider chose to continue his season in Europe rather than fly to Rwanda.
To finish off what’s been a superb 2025 season that included a first grand tour top 10 with ninth at the Giro d’Italia, he’s racing the Tour of Luxembourg and the CRO Race before wrapping his season.
Already eyeing Montréal
The 2026 worlds, held on elements of the GP de Montréal course, are already on everyone’s agenda. (Photo: Szymon Gruchalski/Getty Images)
The U.S. has a long and complicated history with the rainbow jersey.
Greg LeMond won the elite men’s world title twice, with victories in 1983 and 1989. Lance Armstrong’s 1993 triumph is clouded in controversy.
On the women’s side, the drought stretches back even further.
Audrey McElmury claimed the title in 1969, and Beth Heiden won in 1980. Megan Guarnier’s bronze in Richmond 2015 and Dygert’s silver in 2024 are the lone podiums in the elusive road race world title the team’s been chasing for decades.
Also read: How will Team USA fare in Rwanda?
Why did so many Americans skip worlds this year?
Part of it is the relentless demands of the modern calendar. By September, there’s little left in the tank, and health and family always come first.
And then there’s the closer-to-home and more appealing world championship course waiting in Montréal in 2026.
Expect all the top American pros to put a big circle around that date for next season.
That leaves Team USA with a talented but thinner squad in Kigali for Africa’s first road worlds. The riders who are going are committed to getting something out of the race.
A medal isn’t out of reach.
Dygert remains a top favorite for the time trial, and Simmons — a junior road world champion in 2019 and ninth last year in Zurich — has been on a roll this season.