September 27, 2026 - (Montreal, Que.) The USA’s Brandon McNulty struck big to win the Elite Men’s 273.4km race in Montreal at the 2026 UCI Road World Championships with Australia’s Michael Matthews claiming the silver and Mathieu van der Poel the bronze. The top Canadian was Michael Leonard in 32nd with Michael Woods in 35th.
An early break of 16 that included Canada’s Guillaume Boivin, who replaced Derek Gee, built an 8.5-minute lead but the peloton began to reel them in, and under the pressure, the break splintered. Once it was swallowed up another a group four jumped and then Van der Poel joined them along with Wout van Aert (Bel).
Van der Poel pushed the pace and the group looked good for a time gaining up to 40 seconds but the chasers and the big peloton behind responded. The Dutchman pressed again, and this time four riders including Van der Poel, Primoz Roglic (Slo), Quinn Simmons (USA) and Ben Healy (Irl) were out front with about 50 km to go.
When that foursome was reeled in a group of 12 riders made a short-lived bid to get away, and it was then that McNulty made his historic move with just over 30km to go. As the chasing group behind hesitated a gap opened quickly while the American time trialed ahead – McNulty won the junior world time trial title in 2016.
His lead swelled to almost a minute on the final lap as the chasers tried in vain cutting his advantage to 10 seconds at one point with Pidcock and Van der Poel animating the group. McNulty’s teammate, Matteo Jorgenson, also in the chase group, did his best to sit on the wheel of any attackers.
McNulty had gambled smartly as he powered to the finish line and held on to claim the biggest victory of his career and ended a 33-year drought for the USA. It was 1993 when Lance Armstrong last won the coveted rainbow jersey.
Results
1. Brandon McNulty (USA) 6:17:04.000
2. Michael Matthews (Aus) at 0:13.000
3. Mathieu van der Poel (Ned)
4. Quinn Simmons (USA)
5. Isaac Del Toro (Mex) 0:14.000
6. Mads Pederson (Den)
7. Tom Pidcock (Gbr)
8. Matteo Jorgenson (USA)
9. Giulio Cicoone (Ita)
10. Ben Healy (Ire)
Full results here.
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