WORLD’s top riders ambushed by USA as their own Brendan McNulty escapes to land
the biggest prize in cycling, the rainbow jersey of world professional road
race champion.
In a stunning and nail-biting epic 280-kilometre
race in Montreal in September, “super
domestique” McNulty and the USA national
team outwitted and outrode the super stars Evenpoele and Van der Poel and Matthews
among them, to land the biggest prize in cycling.
It was a deserved victory for the 28-year-old noted
more for his work as a domestique to Pogacar, but who can shine when he gets
the chance, as he did earlier that week when finishing fourth in the world TT
title race behind Remco Evenpoele.
So what happened in Montreal? The American journal
Velo explained it thus:
This was “an emphatic Team USA victory” says VELO.
One which ended a 33-year wait for the USA, since
Lance Armstrong won the title in Oslo, Norway, in 1993.
The USA had three potential winners, McNulty, Matteo
Jorgenson and Quinn Simmons. Whoever got
the chance first would be backed by the rest of the team.
When McNulty shot clear with 32 km to go, Team USA’s
tactics took care of anyone who gave chase.
Quinn Simmons marked most of the moves, including
Matthieu van der Poel’s big move. As the other race favourites sprang to nail
McNulty’s move, Jorgenson snuffed the life out of them.
Backing them up were Larry Warbass, Kevin Vermaerke,
Riley Sheehand, Sean Quinn and Artem Schmidt.
Between them they smothered the opposition’s
attempts to chase down their quarry.
The rest was down to McNulty known for his climbing strength
and time trialling ability. He has won and been placed in many TTs, including
the 3rd in the UCI Under-23
World’s in 2017, the year he turned pro and of course fourth the World’s TT
title race earlier in the week. He has
many notable performances.
He turned pro 2017 and in 2019 scored his first pro
win, the Giro di Sicilia. He was 15th overall in his first Grand
Tour, the Giro d’Italia in 2020, winning his first Grand Tour stage in the Giro
in 2023. A snapshot of performances includes 1st Ardeche Classic, 1st
Trofeo Calvia, 1st Tour of Poland, 1st overall Cro Race, 1st
Tour of Luxembourg, and 3rd overall Paris –Nice.
Clearly he has always had the potential to expand on
these successes. Instead he become established as a highly ranked lieutenant
for Pogacar after first working for him in the 2022 Tour de France which
Pogacar won, and he has fulfilled this role ever since limiting his own chances.
In fact it was in the 2022 Tour that McNulty famously
“drove a pace that broke the entire lead GC group” – with the exception of
Pogacar and his main rival, the Dane Jonas Vingegaard – taking third place
behind the pair.
As a “super domestique” – perhaps the strongest in
the sport - McNulty has found fame late
in his career in the absence of his UAE boss Pogacar, the defending world
champion and Grand Tour and Classics wizard absent because of injury.
If Pog had ridden and the World’s been open to trade
teams instead of nationals, there would very likely have been a very different
outcome, as McNulty and others of his ilk would have been put to work in the
usual pattern.
A major contribution to how the race shaped up was the
banning of race radios in world championships. This prevented managers in team cars dictating
moves, leaving their riders to rely on instinct and initiative in reading the
race and countering or launching attacks.
The USA
gambled and backed a winner.
The intriguing question now is how will team UAE
work this one out. What will Pog himself make of this, as his butler steps up
to dine at top table? Will the new rainbow
jersey still be required to bend the knee? Pogacar, if he returns to top form, surely
will not relinquish control.
In which case McNulty may find himself a new team to
call his own. Time to ride for himself.
