{"id":660661,"date":"2026-06-27T06:44:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T06:44:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/660661\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T06:44:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T06:44:16","slug":"brandon-mcnulty-on-working-for-pogacar-when-he-says-ride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/660661\/","title":{"rendered":"Brandon McNulty on working for Poga\u010dar: ‘when he says ride…’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tadej Poga\u010dar starts the 2026 Tour de France as the overwhelming favourite<\/a>. But what is it actually like to ride for the world champion? American Brandon McNulty<\/a>, one of his most trusted lieutenants, has offered a small but revealing glimpse. It says plenty about both men.Brandon McNulty<\/a> (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) spoke to Escape Collective<\/a> at the Tour de Suisse last week, where Poga\u010dar’s dominance could be seen from the moon. But Poga\u010dar wasn’t the only one warming up for the Tour de France in Switzerland. McNulty also impressed in his role as key mountain domestique. His pace-setting on the opening stage<\/a> helped shred the field and launch Poga\u010dar’s enormous long-range solo win. A top-10 ride in the stage 4 time trial<\/a> confirmed that his own legs are good.<\/p>\n

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

\"pogacar<\/p>\n

Poga\u010dar thanks McNulty in Switzerland<\/p>\n

McNulty: ‘If he says to ride\u2026\u2019McNulty explains what it\u2019s like to work for such a prolific talent: \u201cIf he says to ride, you can assume he’s probably going to win the stage.\u201d That Poga\u010dar is in shape is not in question. His incredible power numbers from the Tour de Suisse<\/a> confirm that, let alone his 2026 results so far.<\/p>\n

That McNulty is in such good form is a huge bonus for the team. “All spring was rocky, and then I ended up having a virus. I found out after Basque Country,” McNulty told Escape Collective. “From there, three weeks off, and then from May 2 or 3 I was able to start riding, and then just training full for the Tour, and I’ve trained well, and came back well, so I’m back in shape.”<\/p>\n

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

\"brandon-mcnulty\"\/McNulty not just a mountain domestiqueMcNulty is far from a one-dimensional rider. He has the ability to set Poga\u010dar up for success from the very first stage. A former junior world time-trial champion, he has the raw power to matter in the team time trial that opens the race in Barcelona<\/a>. A huge plus for Poga\u010dar starting the race on the front foot.<\/p>\n

But of course, his real added value comes in the high mountains. In recent Tours, McNulty has regularly been among the last men to stay with Poga\u010dar deep into the big climbs. And the 2026 route is full of them! Poga\u010dar and McNulty will have to tackle eight mountain stages, including summit finishes at Gavarnie-G\u00e8dre, Plateau de Solaison and Orci\u00e8res-Merlette, and a brutal back to back ascent of Alpe d’Huez.<\/p>\n

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

\"brandon-mcnulty-6898e1c175a05\"\/Just one part of a stacked UAE squadDespite the prevailing opinion that Poga\u010dar could win alone, he will of course have a team of superstars around him. McNulty is expected to line up alongside Isaac del Toro<\/a>, Tim Wellens, Pavel Sivakov and Nils Politt, giving Poga\u010dar the kind of support he needs to win his fourth yellow jersey.<\/p>\n

If the Tour de Suisse was the audition, McNulty passed it comfortably. In just over a week\u2019s time, the real work will begin. Knowing that your team leader will more than likely finish the job after you\u2019ve done your bit just makes that work a little bit easier.<\/p>\n

UAE Team Emirates XRG are due to release their 2026 Tour de France team<\/a> any day now.McNulty extended with UAE until 2030Back in April 2026, UAE and McNulty announced their mutual appreciation with a hefty contract extension<\/a>. It isn’t clear exactly how long Tadej Poga\u010dar will race continue to race for, but UAE have secured the services of McNulty until 2030.McNulty said of the extension at the time: ‘It is a great prospect to continue racing with UAE Team Emirates – XRG<\/a> in the future. I have been here for several years now, and it is a place where I have been able to grow as a rider and as a person. We have achieved very beautiful things here, and I feel that we have the right balance. I feel at home here.’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tadej Poga\u010dar starts the 2026 Tour de France as the overwhelming favourite. But what is it actually like…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":660662,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[83340,4985,109589,133220,101,8782,135345,12183,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-660661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-brandon-mcnulty","tag-cycling","tag-idl-productions","tag-latest-cycling-news","tag-sports","tag-tadej-pogacar","tag-tour-de-france-2026","tag-uae-team-emirates-xrg","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=660661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660661\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/660662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=660661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=660661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=660661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}