American rider Brandon McNulty claimed victory in the elite men’s road race at the 2026 UCI Road World Championships in Montréal, ending a 33-year wait for a United States winner. McNulty attacked with 33 kilometres remaining, completing the course in 6:17:04 to hold off a fragmented chase, with Michael Matthews taking silver and Mathieu van der Poel finishing third.
How the Breakaway and Early Chaos Shaped the Race
The elite men’s road race began in Brossard before tackling a flat run-in of approximately 100 kilometres ahead of twelve laps on the 13.4-kilometre local circuit in Montréal. An aggressive start saw a seventeen-rider move form early on, building an advantage that stretched past four minutes and eventually neared eight minutes. As the race hit the local circuit, the peloton fractured under severe pressure applied by the French national team. Bruno Armirail drove a relentless pace on the front, steadily cutting down the breakaway’s advantage across repeated ascents of the Côte Camillien-Houde.
Inside the final 110 kilometres, the tactical battle exploded. Valentin Paret-Peintre attacked for France, triggering a cascade of accelerations that reduced the peloton to a series of short-lived groups. Wout van Aert, Mathieu van der Poel, and Oscar Onley forged a dangerous three-rider move with 87 kilometres remaining, while riders like Tom Pidcock and Ben Healy actively animated the chasing groups. Despite counter-attacks from Primož Roglič, Remco Evenepoel, and 2026 Montreal GP winner Isaac del Toro, no single group established a controlling organization.
McNulty’s Decisive Strike and the Tactical Headache Behind
The decisive moment arrived with 33 kilometres remaining when Brandon McNulty launched his race-winning attack. Behind him, the chasing group devolved into a tactical stalemate of counter-attacks rather than a cohesive pursuit. Tom Pidcock highlighted the chaotic team dynamics in the chase, noting, “Del Toro was obviously working for McNulty in the end,” as quoted by Cyclingnews.
| Position | Rider | Nation | Time / Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brandon McNulty | United States | 6:17:04 |
| 2 | Michael Matthews | Australia | +13s |
| 3 | Mathieu van der Poel | Netherlands | +13s |
| 10 | Ben Healy | Ireland | – |
As McNulty pressed his advantage toward the finish line in Montréal, the peloton’s heavy hitters exhausted their domestiques trying to neutralize subsequent moves. Ben Healy lit up the race repeatedly, animating the chase groups before finishing 10th for Ireland, while Mathieu van der Poel and Michael Matthews ultimately rounded out the podium 13 seconds behind the lone American leader.
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