Brandon McNulty said his legs had been dead for miles when he hit the line in Montreal on Sunday. He had just become the first American man in 33 years to wear cycling’s rainbow jersey.

The 28-year-old went clear of the peloton with a little more than 33 km to go, attacking on the finishing circuit that took the field twelve times up the Voie Camillien-Houde. Behind him the chasers hesitated, then closed to a handful of seconds on the final lap, and never quite reached him. McNulty crossed the line in 6:17:04, thirteen seconds clear of Michael Matthews and Mathieu van der Poel, who took silver and bronze in the same time.

‘Apparently, a miracle happened’

McNulty could barely stand at the finish. He had ridden a 33 km solo at the end of a 273 km race, and by his own account was already spent long before the bell.

He described being on the edge on the final climb but pushing on anyway. “I was dead. But I kept pushing. I don’t know,” he told reporters at the finish.

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His pre-race conversations with his wife had not exactly been bullish.

“No, we thought about it, and I was joking with my wife, but I knew it would take a miracle,” McNulty said.

“Apparently, a miracle happened today.”

Pogacar cheers from home

The teammate McNulty spends most of the year working for was not in Montreal to see it. Tadej Pogacar, the two-time defending world champion, ended his 2026 season after crashing out of stage 8 of the Vuelta a España, an injury that ruled him out of the Worlds, the European Championships and Il Lombardia.

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The Slovenian watched from home and posted his verdict on Instagram once McNulty had crossed the line.

“The King of Montreal. Proud of you Brandon McNulty.”

He had been expected to defend his rainbow jersey in Canada. Instead his lieutenant carried it for him.

Third straight year at UAE

McNulty’s win kept the rainbow jersey inside UAE Team Emirates-XRG for a third consecutive year, following Pogacar’s titles in 2024 and 2025.

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The US team behind him was strong too. Quinn Simmons finished fourth in the same time as the medalists, and Isaac Del Toro took fifth at 14 seconds. Matteo Jorgenson was eighth.

The number that matters most for American road cycling is 33: the years since a US rider last wore the men’s rainbow jersey. That was Lance Armstrong in Oslo in 1993, and no American man has won it since.

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