McNulty finally flies the rainbow flag and ends his season on a high at the Veneto Classic

Autumn in Italy has been underway for a while now, but it feels like it only really kicked off last week. This Sunday, however, truly marked the end of the season with the Veneto Classic. It’s a brand-new race that was launched in 2021, but it quickly became a fixture on the calendar, thanks to a very challenging course. The Diesel Farm climb, in particular, often captures the imagination.

But the course is certainly impressive. With the climb to La Tisa, there’s always a spot where the race could be decided. Before the race reached the local circuit, there had already been quite a few breakaways. But Jayco AlUla kept the pace high.

Among others, we saw Clément Berthet (Groupama-FDJ) try his luck, but he couldn’t get away.

With 80 kilometers to go, however, the final stage had already begun. A promising group of 20 favourites had already broken away. Among them were Brandon McNulty and Benoît Cosnefroy (UAE), Marc Hirschi (Tudor), Quinten Hermans (Pinarello - Q36.5), Christian Scaroni (XDS Astana), and Anthon Charmig (Uno-X Mobility). These riders are in top form—and are also among the top favourites.

With forty kilometers to go, McNulty picked up the pace. Charmig followed suit. He was able to secure Uno-X’s third consecutive victory in Veneto.

Because UAE Team Emirates-XRG was able to deploy no fewer than three riders to support the chase group, the duo immediately built up a significant lead. And that lead grew to one minute. With such fast riders out front, it would be difficult to catch them.

On La Tisa, McNulty tried to break away from Charmig, but on the poorly laid cobblestone climb, he just couldn’t quite pull it off. On the Diesel Farm climb—a mercilessly steep monster with gravel sections—he did manage it. There, he left the Dane behind in a single gear shift. He reached the top with a lead of about twenty counts, and then came a valley.

As an outstanding time trialist, that shouldn't have been a problem. He simply pulled further ahead of the struggling Charmig and was finally able to raise his hands in triumph in the rainbow jersey after several failed attempts. Charmig finished second, more than a minute behind, ahead of Pavel Sivakov.