Brandon McNulty (United States) won the road race at the World Championships (Canada) on 27 September, alone, with a 13″ advantage, in 6h17’04”. Michael Matthews (Australia) was second, Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands) third.
The race
The men’s race at the Montréal World Championships was 273.4 km long. After the first few kilometres a break of 16 riders formed, with Biniam Girmay and Andreas Leknessund among the best-known names. The peloton let it go to about eight minutes, with Mexico setting the tempo.
Then France took over, working for Paul Seixas. As the race entered the city circuit, with 160 km and twelve laps still to go, the breakaway’s deficit had fallen to about six minutes. After two laps, with Bruno Armirail at the head of the peloton, it was about two and a half minutes and only seven riders were left in front.
For the first 240 km Brandon McNulty was barely seen. The attack came about 32 km from the finish, when the front group had just reorganised and attacks were following one another. McNulty went alone and built a lead that reached about a minute.
Behind him, his American team-mates worked for him. Matteo Jorgenson and Quinn Simmons sat in the chasing group without helping the pursuit. So the others could not agree on closing the gap.
McNulty held on to the finish in Montréal and won in 6h17’04”. Michael Matthews came second at 13”, along with Mathieu van der Poel and Simmons himself, fourth. Jorgenson was eighth, in the small group at 14”. The first of the Italians is Giulio Ciccone, ninth.
McNulty is 28 and was known mainly as a domestique for Tadej Pogačar, who was not at the start in Montréal. In 2023 he had won a stage of the Giro d’Italia. He had also won the Montréal one-day race in 2025. He is now the first American road world champion since Lance Armstrong, who won in Oslo in 1993. Asked whether Pogačar will now be his domestique, he replied “Let’s not joke around.”
The first of the Italians is Giulio Ciccone, 9th at 14″. 58 riders finished out of 181 starters.
How they finished
The top ten
| # | Rider | Country | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brandon McNulty | United States | 6h17’04” |
| 2 | Michael Matthews | Australia | +13″ |
| 3 | Mathieu van der Poel | Netherlands | +13″ |
| 4 | Quinn Simmons | United States | +13″ |
| 5 | Isaac Del Toro | Mexico | +14″ |
| 6 | Mads Pedersen | Denmark | +14″ |
| 7 | Tom Pidcock | Great Britain | +14″ |
| 8 | Matteo Jorgenson | United States | +14″ |
| 9 | Giulio Ciccone | Italy | +14″ |
| 10 | Ben Healy | Ireland | +14″ |
The numbers of the race
- Selection index
- 76 out of 100 Of 58 finishers: 12 within 30 seconds of the winner, 12 within 2 minutes, 55 within 10 minutes (him included). It runs from 0, a bunch sprint, to 98, a solo finish.
News written with the help of Mnemosyne.
Sources
- Results and times: UCI, official results.
- Photo: Danysan1, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
