Brandon McNulty, a UAE Emirates teammate of Tadej Pogacar, succeeded the Slovene as world champion with an unexpected solo win in the men\u2019s UCI road race in Montreal.<\/p>\n
In the biggest triumph of his career, the 28-year-old American took his country\u2019s first win in the UCI\u2019s blue riband event since Lance Armstrong\u2019s lone victory in Oslo in 1993.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really at a loss,\u201d McNulty said. \u201cUntil the last hundred metres, I didn\u2019t believe it, I was so tired. I was just dying, but I kept pushing. We have said for weeks now that we had a super strong team. We talked about it, but I knew it would take a miracle. I guess miracles happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
McNulty\u2019s 50-second lead at the start of the closing lap of the hilly Montreal circuit was enough to hold on to the finish line, despite a last\u2011ditch attempt by Tom Pidcock to chase down the American that, at one point, reduced his advantage to only a handful of seconds.<\/p>\n
Australian Michael Matthews claimed silver while former world champion Mathieu van der Poel of the Netherlands finished third.<\/p>\n
Pidcock was one of the animators of the final hour of racing, which followed the same volatile and unpredictable pattern as the women\u2019s road race on Saturday, which was won by Demi Vollering of the Netherlands. A gruelling race, ridden without the benefit of race radios, was at times chaotic, particularly within the Belgium team\u2019s confused tactics, with the Olympic road race champion, Remco Evenepoel, left once again to ponder what might have been.<\/p>\n
With 90 kilometres to go, a select group of a dozen riders, including Pidcock\u2019s British teammate Oscar Onley, went clear on the pivotal climb of the Voie Camillien-Houde. That group reduced to an elite six, including Van der Poel, and this year\u2019s Paris-Roubaix winner, Wout van Aert.<\/p>\n
In the constant ebb and flow, the biggest loser, seemingly hamstrung by team tactics, was Van Aert\u2019s fellow Belgian and pre-race favourite Evenepoel, who was seeking to add the road race title to the time trial gold medal he won seven days ago. With the leading group increasing their lead, Paul Seixas\u2019s France team combined with Isaac del Toro of Mexico to lead a nine-man group in pursuit. But Van der Poel, recently the author of a successful 172km lone break in the Tour of Luxembourg, pressed on with Onley, the Slovene Primoz Roglic and Quinn Simmons of the US.<\/p>\n
Brandon McNulty (centre) flanked by the Australian silver-medalist Michael Matthews (left) and third-placed Mathieu van der Poel. Photograph: Graham Hughes\/The Canadian Press\/AP<\/p>\n
Renewed accelerations from Van der Poel finally distanced Onley and split the peloton to an even greater extent. In a succession of regroupings the lead changed multiple times, until McNulty finally and definitively seized the initiative with just over 30km to race.<\/p>\n
Matthews won the sprint duel for second place, 13 seconds behind McNulty. The Canberra-raised rider previously won silver in 2015 and bronze in 2017 and 2022.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not only the way I raced the race today, it\u2019s after what I\u2019ve been through the last two years with the embolism in my lungs thinking my career was done, to breaking both my arms at the start of this year and thinking my career was done,\u201d the Australian said after the race.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow bouncing back to being second in the world\u2019s road race, I\u2019m just speechless honestly.<\/p>\n
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