Defending champ Tadej Pogačar gives up chance of third career win in Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal, waiting for McNulty after a solo attack.
Brandon McNulty of (UAE Team Emirates) celebrates at finish line as race winner ahead of his teammate Tadej Pogačar (Photo: Szymon Gruchalski/Getty Images)
Updated September 14, 2025 03:23PM
Tadej Pogačar passed up the chance of a third victory in the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal Sunday, powering away from a four man breakaway group with 23.4km remaining, waiting for teammate Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates), and then gifting the American the win.
Pogačar was clearly the strongest rider in the race and powered across to McNulty, US road race champion Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) and Louis Barré (Intermarche-Wanté) on the tough Côte de Camillien-Houde inside three laps to go. He then made his big move one lap later.
Unleashing a seated acceleration, he gapped Simmons and McNulty right away, with Barré losing contact moments before. Pogačar gained time but then waited for McNulty after he shook off Simmons.
The world champion did all the work inside the final 15km, being visibly stronger than McNulty on the climbs but riding within his limits for his teammate. They raced towards the finish together, where a beaming Pogačar pushed his teammate forward to the biggest one day win of his career.
Simmons raced in for third, with Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) taking fourth ahead of Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates).
McNulty’s success was one of the most significant of his career, and is an experience he will cherish for a long, long time.
“[It means a lot] when you go one-two with a teammate, but when he is the world champion, obviously the best guy in the world, it is super special to go across the line like that,” he smiled. “It’s one of the most memorable days of my career so far.”
Pogačar also savored it, and seemed back to his usual chirpy self. He had been subdued in the final week of the Tour de France, the reason for which his agent detailed this week to Velo.
Big break clear, big names crack
The Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal was the more difficult of the two Canadian WorldTour races and one deemed more suitable to climbers like Tadej Pogačar. Even if the end of the race was more straightforward than that seen in Québec, the Côte de Camillien-Houde was a tougher ascent than that encountered on Friday.
The 1.8km climb averaged 8 percent and would be covered on each of the 17 laps. Together with three smaller climbs on the 12.3km circuit, it made for a very difficult day.
Frank van den Broek (Team Picnic PostNL) raced clear 5km after the start and with 212km still to cover.
Despite the distance from the finish Pascal Eenkhoorn (Soudal Quick-Step) quickly reacted, with American riders AJ August and Artem Shmidt (Ineos Grenadiers), Jørgen Nordhagen (Visma-Lease a Bike), Victor Lafay (Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale Team) and Embret Svestad-Bårdeng (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) also keen to get involved.
Nine riders jumped away from the bunch and joined up with the leaders with 120km left. Alex Baudin and Harry Sweeny were there for EF Education-EasyPost, while Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe had Laurence Pithie and Jan Tratnik.
Gianni Vermeersch (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Marius Mayrhofer (Tudor Pro Cycling), Lewis Askey (Groupama-FDJ), Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla) and Fredrik Dversnes (Uno X Mobility) were the others involved.
Various riders faded out of the break due to the pace and tough course. UAE Team Emirates was chasing behind and reeled in the last of those out front with 69km left.
Their momentum ensured that various big names had got into difficulty, with Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), Michael Matthews (Jayco AlUla) and Friday’s Québec winner Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor Pro Cycling) all dropped. Giro winner Simon Yates (Visma-Lease a Bike) also went out the back and withdrew from the race.
The UAE Team Emirates Show
Brandon McNulty and his UAE Team Emirates-XRG teammate Tadej Pogačar near the finish line at the 14th Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal. Pogačar gifted McNulty the win in the race (Photo: Szymon Gruchalski/Getty Images)
UAE Team Emirates continued driving the bunch along, softening the peloton up for an almost-certain Pogačar power show. Last year’s runner-up Pello Bilao (Bahrain-Victorious) had a flat tire with 43km to go, while Tour de France podium finisher Oscar Onley (Picnic-PostNL) appeared to be in difficulty three kilometers later.
US champion Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) and compatriot Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) darted clear 37km out and were joined by Louis Barré (Intermarché-Wanty). Pogačar leaped clear very soon afterwards on the Côte Camillien-Houde and quickly bridged across, making for four strong leaders.
The quartet had an advantage of 31 seconds 30km from the line, with McNulty driving the pace of the group and Pogačar sitting on and saving energy. They had 53 seconds with two laps to go, with Barré dropped soon afterwards.
Pogačar put in one of his famous seated attacks on the Côte de Camillien-Houde with 23.4km to go, quickly moving clear of Simmons and McNulty. The latter subsequently attacked and with Pogačar waiting ahead, joined his team leader with 15.4km to go.
They raced through the start/finish line for the final time some 32 seconds ahead of Simmons, with Pogačar doing all the work. The Slovenian continued leading on the big climb, visibly stronger than McNulty there, and drove on towards the finish.
The duo had a brief discussion just outside 2km to go before Pogačar resumed at the front. He then pushed his teammate forward just before the line, both riders grinning broadly as they rolled across the line.
It was the fourth win in a row for UAE Team Emirates, who triumphed with Pogačar in 2022 and 2024, and with Adam Yates in 2023.
More significantly, it was UAE’s 85th success this year. That equals the historic total set by Team Colombia-HTC in 2009 and with several weeks left until the end of the season, it is almost certain that a new record will be set.