On the ultimate day of the 2026 UCI Highway World Championships, the eight-rider American squad made historical past. Brandon McNulty (Phoenix, Ariz.; UAE Workforce Emirates-XRG) turned the primary American to win the Elite Males’s Highway Race World Title since 1993, including one other rainbow jersey to his résumé precisely 10 years after he received the Junior Males’s Highway Race World Title in 2016.
McNulty was joined by Quinn Simmons (Durango, Colo.; Lidl-Trek), Matteo Jorgenson (Boise, Idaho; Visma | Lease A Bike), Sean Quinn (Los Angeles, Calif.; EF Training-EasyPost), Kevin Vermaerke (Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.; UAE Workforce Emirates-XRG), Artem Shmidt (Cumming, Ga.; Netcompany INEOS), Larry Warbasse (Traverse Metropolis, Mich.; Tudor Professional Biking Workforce), and Riley Sheehan (Boulder, Colo.; NSN Biking Workforce), with all eight riders dedicated to placing an American within the rainbow stripes.
The race started equally to the Elite Ladies’s occasion, with the lads’s subject rolling out from Brossard, south of Montréal. From there, the riders crossed the river and raced 100 kilometers earlier than reaching the difficult Montréal circuit, which they’d full 12 instances. In complete, the 273-kilometer (169 miles) course featured 3,578 meters (11,739 ft) of climbing.
Because the race reached the circuit, the assaults started to warmth up. With 87 kilometers remaining, Wout van Aert (BEL) launched an assault and was joined by Anthon Charmig (DEN), Mathieu Van der Poel (NED), Simmons, Primož Roglič (SLO) and Oscar Onley (GBR).
Van der Poel then pushed the tempo once more, splitting the group and leaving Simmons and Onley with him. Roglič later bridged throughout, forming a four-rider group earlier than Ben Healy (IRE) made the reference to 39 kilometers to go, passing a fading Onley within the course of. Isaac del Toro (MEX) then helped convey the chasing group again into competition. With 32 kilometers left, McNulty made his transfer. He rapidly settled right into a time-trial rhythm and grew the hole to 1:08 with solely two laps left.
Behind him, the assaults continued. The fixed surges stored the chase from absolutely organizing. Remco Evenepoel (BEL) launched one other main assault simply earlier than the ultimate lap, however McNulty nonetheless held 52 seconds as he got here into the park with one lap to go.
Pidcock’s (GBR) surges lastly introduced the hole all the way down to 32 seconds on the foot of the Polytechnique climb. Van der Poel and Mauro Schmid (SUI) additionally tried to make a transfer, however Jorgenson, using in help of his American teammate, shut down every menace.
McNulty carried his benefit onto the uphill ending straight, securing the Elite Males’s World Title and changing into the primary American in 33 years to put on the rainbow stripes. It was an enormous effort from the complete workforce.
As McNulty crossed the road, he instantly ran to hug his spouse after which celebrated together with his teammates within the end corral. He was in complete disbelief. “Till the final 300 meters, I actually did not even imagine it. I used to be so drained… Up the final climb I used to be solely doing zone two. I used to be simply dying, however I stored simply pushing.”
When requested concerning the workforce effort from Simmons and Jorgenson, McNulty stated, “We have stated for weeks now that we have now an excellent sturdy workforce, and that’s attainable. I believe we rode, I imply, loopy nicely. We marked all the things, had guys forward. I am critically puzzled.”
When requested if he believed he could possibly be world champion immediately, he stated, “No, I imply, we thought of it. I made some jokes with my spouse, however in the long run, I knew one thing might occur, however it could take a miracle. And, I assume, immediately, miracles occur.”
After the race, Jorgenson commented on their technique, “We made a plan final evening. We set our egos apart slightly bit, and we determined, we simply needed an American to win this race. I actually suppose that we performed the right race with Quinn [Simmons] in a position to observe that transfer with Wout [van Aert] and [Matthieu] Van der Poel to neutralize it, after which Brandon and I had been in a position to reap the benefits of [Paul] Sexias and [Isaac] Del Toro, who spent a bunch of vitality. As quickly because it all got here again collectively, we might get one in all us solo, which was the last word purpose. From there, fortunately, I had loopy legs, and I used to be in a position to observe a bunch of strikes, and make some guys slightly bit annoyed, which actually helped.”
Outcomes:
1. Brandon McNulty (USA) – 6:17:04
2. Michael Matthews (AUS) – +13
3. Mathieu van der Poel (NED) – +13
4. Quinn Simmons (USA) – +13
8. Matteo Jorgenson (USA) – +14
48. Riley Sheehan (USA) – +10:00
57. Larry Warbasse (USA) – +15:35
DNF. Kevin Vermaerke (USA)
DNF. Artem Shmidt (USA)
DNF. Sean Quinn (USA)
