Brandon McNulty wins world road race title with solo Montreal escape

Brandon McNulty won the men’s UCI road race world title in Montreal, finishing alone after an attack with just over 30 kilometres remaining. The 28-year-old became the first American to win the event since Lance Armstrong in Oslo in 1993, according to The Guardian’s race report, ending a 33-year gap for the United States.

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McNulty began the final lap of the hilly circuit with a 50-second advantage, but his victory remained under threat as Tom Pidcock launched a late pursuit. The British rider cut the gap to only a few seconds at one stage. McNulty nevertheless held on, with Australia’s Michael Matthews winning the sprint for silver 13 seconds behind him and the Netherlands’ Mathieu van der Poel taking bronze.

The decisive move followed repeated changes at the front of a race contested without team radios. With 90 kilometres remaining, a group of 12 riders, including Britain’s Oscar Onley, broke away on the Voie Camillien-Houde climb. That selection was subsequently reduced to six, with Van der Poel and Belgium’s Wout van Aert among the riders still in contention at the front.

Further attacks and regroupings prevented that move from settling the contest. France’s Paul Seixas and Mexico’s Isaac del Toro were involved in a nine-rider pursuit, while Van der Poel continued to apply pressure alongside Onley, Primoz Roglic and American Quinn Simmons. McNulty eventually made the break that lasted, succeeding his UAE Emirates teammate Tadej Pogacar as world champion.

Afterwards, McNulty said he had struggled to believe victory was possible until the final hundred metres and described pushing on despite exhaustion. He also credited the strength of the American team. Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel, identified by The Guardian as the pre-race favourite, was unable to add the road race crown to the time trial gold he had secured seven days earlier.

For Matthews, silver added to a world road race medal collection that already included second place in 2015 and bronze in 2017 and 2022. He described the result as particularly meaningful after serious health and injury setbacks, including a lung embolism and a training crash in March in which he broke both wrists. His sprint secured another podium finish, but McNulty’s late solo effort had already decided the title.