Brandon McNulty emerges as surprise winner from wild World Championships

A breathless edition of the World Championships produced an unexpected winner as Brandon McNulty seized his moment in Montreal to solo to the rainbow jersey. The American spent the last two and a half laps off the front, and he came home 13 seconds ahead of Michael Matthews (Australia), who outsprinted Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands) to silver.

McNulty attacked with 33km to go, and he looked to be cruising towards the title when he took the bell with a minute in hand on the chasers.

But this unruly Worlds continued to produce drama all the way to the finish. On the final ascent of Voie Camillien-Houde, McNulty faded to the extent that his gap on the chasers was down to just 10 seconds, with Tom Pidcock (Great Britain) leading the charge.

But all impetus suddenly faded from the pursuit over the top of the climb, and McNulty pressed on to stretch his lead back out to half a minute ahead of the Côte de la Polytechnique with 7km to go. When McNulty’s legs held on the climb, the rainbow jersey looked to be his, though Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands) attacked viciously from the chasing group.

McNulty’s teammate Matteo Jorgenson had smothered every counterattack to that point, and he did it again here, covering Van der Poel in the company of Giulio Ciccone (Italy), and then policing the twelve-strong chasing group with Quinn Simmons.

Mauro Schmid (Switzerland) clipped away in pursuit of McNulty, with Pidcock and Jorgenson bridging across ahead of the last ascent of Avenue Pagnuelo. That climb produced ample drama among the chasers, with Isaac del Toro (Mexico) attacking and Paul Seixas (France) cramping up and grinding almost to a halt, but the rainbow jersey was already beyond the youngsters by that point.

Pidcock, Schmid and Jorgenson were brought back by the chasers beneath the flamme rouge, but their race was for silver behind McNulty, who held firm on the final drag to the line to claim the rainbow jersey for the United States.

The peloton was greeted by chilly, autumnal conditions at the start in Brossard as it faced into the 273km title race, and an enterprising 16 riders quickly clipped off the front, with Biniam Girmay (Eritrea) the most notable name in a group that also included Andreas Leknessund (Norway), Jamie Meehan (Ireland), Guillaume Boivin (Canada) and Amir Arsalan Ansari (Refugee Cycling Team).

They quickly built an eight-minute lead over a peloton where Belgium, the Netherlands, Mexico and Great Britain initially took on the policing duties as the race ambled through the opening 100km and towards the finishing circuit in Montreal. There was an injection in pace as the race crossed the Saint Lawrence and approached the circuit, with Bruno Armirail (France) springing into action on behalf of Seixas.

Armirail’s effort made an immediate impression. By the time the race crossed the finish line for the first time with 12 laps and 161km to go, the break’s lead had already been slashed to five minutes, and riders were beginning to be shelled out the back of the bunch.  That was the first part of a stirring cameo from Armirail, who spent the first four laps of the circuit on the front, and he was still in position when the remnants of the break were swept up with eight laps to go.

Once the escapees were caught, a new phase in the race began, with Anthon Charmig (Denmark) escaping alone just inside the final 100km. With 7 laps to go, the Dane had 20 seconds in hand on a significantly reduced peloton, but he would soon have company.

The next ascent of Camillien-Houde would see the first major move take shape, with Alex Baudin (France) and Christian Scaroni (Italy) the initial aggressors. They would be joined by a group that included Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands), Ben Healy (Ireland), Wout van Aert (Belgium), Brandon McNulty (USA) and Primož Roglič (Slovenia). 

The presence of so many dangermen triggered a swift response from the bunch, but that didn’t deter Van Aert, who attacked with intent. Van der Poel inevitably followed, with Charmig, Roglič, Onley and Quinn Simmons (USA) bridging across to form a break of six with 85km to go.

With six laps to go, the sextet had 40 seconds in hand on the France-led peloton, and the situation suddenly risked spiralling beyond their control. Isaac del Toro sprang onto the offensive the next time up Camillien-Houde, with Evenepoel and Seixas lined up behind him. His effort created a split at the head of the bunch, cutting the break’s lead to 20 seconds.

Van der Poel could sense the danger, and with 74km to go, he launched a fierce attack on the Côte de la Polytechnique that only Onley and Simmons could follow. With five laps to go, that trio had 20 seconds on Roglič, Van Aert and Charmig, and a minute on a 15-strong group that featured Evenepoel, Seixas and Del Toro.

Roglič smartly used the next ascent of Camillien-Houde to bridge up to Van der Poel, Onley and Simmons, while Van Aert and Charmig dropped to 30 seconds back. They would soon be joined by a group including Tom Pidcock (Great Britain), Matteo Jorgenson (USA), Del Toro and Seixas, but Evenepoel was conspicuous by his absence. It looked as though the pre-race favourite had already fallen out of contention with almost 60km still to race.

With four laps and 53km to go, Van der Poel, Roglič, Simmons and Onley held a lead of 19 seconds over Healy, with the ten-strong Seixas-Del Toro-Pidcock group just beyond, while Evenepoel was trailing in a group at 46 seconds. 

On the next climb of Camillien-Houde, Van der Poel kicked again, distancing Onley from the front group. Behind, a lull in the chasing group allowed Evenepoel to return to contention after being helped in his pursuit by Van Aert. Indeed, Evenepoel even tried an immediate attack, but it would prove a bluff rather than a restart.

With three laps to go, Healy and Onley were at 20 seconds, while the group of Del Toro, Seixas and the group of favourites were at 33 seconds. On the next time up Camillien-Houde, Healy dropped Onley and bridged up to the leaders to put four riders in front, but the bigger drama was behind.

Del Toro’s long, steady acceleration on the ascent stretched the chasing group to breaking point and seemed to put the final nail in Evenepoel’s ambitions. It also brought Van der Poel et al to within touching distance. 

With 35km to go, the race was reset, with Van der Poel, Roglič, Healy and Simmons joined in front by Seixas, Del Toro, Pidcock, Adam Yates, Santiago Buitrago, Michael Matthews, Giulio Ciccone, Matteo Jorgenson and Brandon McNulty.

The USA had three riders in a front group of 13, and they quickly tested the waters. McNulty accelerated with 33km to go and there was no response. He quickly opened a sizable advantage, with nobody willing to take up the pursuit. With two laps – 26.8km – to go, McNulty had a lead of 1:06 over the chasers, and the stop-start nature of the pursuit didn’t look like closing the deficit.

Pidcock attacked on the next time up Camillien-Houde, with Jorgenson, Seixas, Matthews and Ciccone following, but Del Toro was surprisingly distanced, while Van der Poel was also paying for his earlier efforts. They would eventually rejoin the chasing group, but Pidcock and Seixas looked the men most likely to deny the sparkling McNulty. 

They closed to within half a minute with 20km to go, but the lack of collaboration would doom their prospects of catching him and they dropped to a minute back with 15km remaining. Evenepoel had rejoined by then and, though clearly shy of his best, he defiantly attacked soon afterwards. He led the chasers through the bell, 50 seconds behind McNulty, who looked to be soloing towards a surprising but no less deserved world title. But this astonishing edition of the Worlds was always likely to produce late twists.