MONTREAL — Brandon McNulty became the first American winner of the men's road race world title in 33 years with a stunning victory at Montreal 2026, completing the gruelling 273.4km course in six hours and 17 minutes and crossing the line 13 seconds clear of the chasing pack. The 28-year-old put his hands on his head in disbelief as he took gold, with Australia's Michael Matthews finishing second and former winner Mathieu van der Poel of the Netherlands in third.
McNulty launched his decisive attack going into the final 30km and carried a 50-second advantage into the last lap. He visibly began to tire on the final climb as his lead was cut to just 10 seconds, but the chasing pack were unable to reel him in. "Until the last 800m I didn't believe, I was so tired," McNulty said. "I'm at a loss for words. I knew something could happen but it would take a miracle and I guess today a miracle happened."
Britain's Tom Pidcock finished seventh, Ireland's Ben Healy was 10th and Belgium's Remco Evenepoel finished 12th. Even without injured riding legend Tadej Pogacar, the field was stacked with favourites expected to dictate the monumentally long race, including Van der Poel, Evenepoel, Wout van Aert, Paul Seixas and Pidcock, all animating and pushing to break away from one another under gradually yellowing Canadian maples.
Timing, not power or race craft, proved crucial. Such was the distance that many attacked far too early, and it was McNulty — a time triallist and domestique to Pogacar by trade — who took off and emptied himself to stay clear.
The unassuming and at times seemingly timid American, who also won the Montreal Grand Prix in 2025, is a very popular winner of what was unquestionably one of the best races of a long season. He is the first American to win the men's road race since Lance Armstrong in 1993.