{"id":797637,"date":"2026-10-10T02:28:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T02:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/797637\/"},"modified":"2026-10-10T02:28:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T02:28:10","slug":"brandon-mcnulty-i-dont-feel-burdened-by-the-rainbow-jersey-i-just-feel-like-im-trying-to-honour-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/797637\/","title":{"rendered":"Brandon McNulty: I don’t feel burdened by the rainbow jersey, I just feel like I’m trying to honour it"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brandon McNulty<\/a> is getting used to the feel of those rainbows around his chest. He\u2019s already had four outings in the world champion\u2019s jersey in the 12 days since his stunning victory in Montreal, and it\u2019s fair to say he\u2019s given it a good airing.<\/p>\n

Riding Giro dell\u2019Emilia, Coppa Agostoni, Tre Valli Varesine, and Gran Piemonte in the last few days, he has been a spritely presence, animating each race with a series of attacks.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s been super special,\u201d McNulty told the gathered media at the teams presentation in Bergamo the evening before Il Lombardia.<\/p>\n

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\u201cObviously I\u2019m still the same rider. It\u2019s not like I\u2019m all of a sudden better, but it\u2019s just nice to race with a bit of confidence, just to attack and whatnot, it\u2019s been really nice.\u201d<\/p>\n

McNulty highlighted out a caveat when it comes to his racing style in recent days. These late-season Italian Classics are, he argued, \u201calways a bit more open and free\u201d. And then there\u2019s the small matter of Tadej Poga\u010dar\u2019s injury-enforced absence, which has not only opened most of these races up to the peloton as a whole but also in terms of the pecking order at UAE Team Emirates-XRG.<\/p>\n

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But it seems that the rainbow jersey, which can weigh heavily on some shoulders, is sitting rather lightly on his.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t really feel burdened by the jersey or anything. I just feel like I\u2019m trying to honour it and just race aggressively.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI think it does come with a bit of respect, or space [in the peloton],\u201d he added, \u201cbut as I said these races are always a bit more relaxed already, so it might also just be that it\u2019s the end of the year. I guess we\u2019ll see tomorrow in a Monument how it will be.\u201d<\/p>\n

For all his racing freedom in recent days, McNulty did give the first indication that this rainbow jersey will be deployed on domestique duty.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we have a leader like Isaac [Del Toro] here it changes a bit the tactics,\u201d McNulty said.<\/p>\n

That idea of a world-champion helper hasn\u2019t sat comfortably with some pundits, and while it will be a pretty obvious scenario when Poga\u010dar is back next year, he confirmed the hierarchy has been set in a similar way for Il Lombardia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor sure he\u2019ll be, like always, our first rider, but we always try to race aggressively with myself, so we\u2019ll see, but the first thing is Isaac, for sure.”<\/p>\n

Subscribe to Cyclingnews for comprehensive race coverage of the UCI Gravel World Championships, alongside the final Monument of the season, Il Lombardia. Subscribers get unlimited access to exclusive analysis from our expert columnists, in-depth features and industry-leading tech insight. Plus, the Cyclingnews app lets you follow the action wherever you go! Join today.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brandon McNulty is getting used to the feel of those rainbows around his chest. He\u2019s already had four…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":797638,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-797637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797637","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=797637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797637\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/797638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=797637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=797637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=797637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}