Brandon McNulty, the new world champion, surprised even himself in Montréal: 'Apparently, a miracle happened today'

McNulty had been riding well up front for a long time and kept a relatively low profile amid the early flurry of attacks. When the first two groups merged, he took off with about thirty kilometers to go. Everyone looked at one another: it turned into an incredibly thrilling final lap, but the American held on and claimed the highly unexpected world title.

In the flash interview, a completely overwhelmed McNulty stood in front of the microphone with tears in his eyes. How did he manage to pull this off? “I have no idea. I don’t have the words for this,” he stammered. “I didn’t believe it until the last 100 meters—I was so tired.”

When McNulty rode away, everyone looked at each other. Del Toro, the American’s teammate on UAE Team Emirates-XRG, didn’t do anything either, and just like that, the gap was a minute. But things got incredibly exciting on the final lap: the favorites closed the gap to just five seconds. “On the final climb, I was in the second zone—I was dead. But I kept pushing. I don’t know.”

Matteo Jorgenson was rock-solid in the second group and ultimately managed to fend off every attack with flair. Quinn Simmons was also invaluable, finishing fourth. “We’ve been saying for weeks that we had a super-strong team, and that it was possible. We rode incredibly well, were on top of everything, and sent riders up front. I’m speechless.”

And so Tadej Pogacar has an incredibly surprising successor. The winner himself didn't expect it either. “No, we thought about it, and I was joking with my wife, but I knew it would take a miracle. Apparently, a miracle happened today.”