American cyclist Brandon McNulty won the elite men's road race at the UCI Road World Championships on Sunday in Montreal, Canada.
His victory came after a 32-kilometer solo attack and earned the United States its first rainbow jersey in the event since 1993.
McNulty completed the 273.4-kilometer course in six hours and fifteen minutes.
He finished 13 seconds ahead of runner-up Michael Matthews of Australia and third-place finisher Mathieu van der Poel of the Netherlands.
The race featured 181 starters in cold and blustery conditions, starting in Brossard before transitioning to 12 laps around a 13.4-kilometer Montreal circuit.
How the Race Unfolded
The decisive movement occurred with 35 kilometers remaining when a group containing pre-race favorites caught an early breakaway.
Team USA launched attacks through Matteo Jorgenson before McNulty built a maximum lead of 1:03 entering the final two laps.
Despite his advantage dropping to 10 seconds on the final climb of Mont Royal, McNulty held off the chasing group.
Two-time defending champion Tadej Pogačar was unable to defend his title due to a crash sustained at the Vuelta a España earlier in the season.
"Honestly I don't know. Really this is – I don't know.
I'm really at a loss. Until the last 100 metres I really didn't even believe it I was so tired.
I mean, I don't know, I really don't know," said McNulty.
McNulty had finished fourth in the World Championship time trial event a week prior to the road race.
"Absolutely, the last climb up Mont Royal I was doing like zone 2, just dying, but I just kept pushing and I don't know.
We've said for weeks now that we have a super strong team and it's possible.
I think we rode cray well, marked everything, had guys ahead, I'm just seriously at a loss for words," he said.
The victory marks the largest achievement of McNulty's professional career.
"No, I mean we talked about it, I made some jokes to my wife – I knew something could happen, but it would take a miracle, and I guess miracles happened," McNulty said.
Earlier in the competition, an initial 16-rider breakaway formed with 167 kilometers remaining, establishing a maximum lead of nearly eight minutes.
Tactical pacing by the Dutch, Belgian, Mexican, and French national teams gradually reduced the gap, setting up the late-race counterattacks on the circuit's decisive climbs.
